Fired Kalasalingam prof Gurunathan’s retraction count stands at eight

We’ve found another retraction for a paper bySangiliyandi Gurunathan, the former researcher at Kalasalingam University in India fired over multiple instances of data fabrication that also caused six Ph.D. students to get kicked out of their program.

The retraction was published In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Animal in October 2011 but we only saw it last month. It reads, in full: Continue reading Fired Kalasalingam prof Gurunathan’s retraction count stands at eight

Two more retractions for Spanish leukemia researcher Román-Gómez

The journal Haematologica has retracted two papers by José Román-Gómez, both of which involve image manipulation, bringing his total to four.

Here’s the first notice, for a 2007 article titled “Epigenetic regulation of human cancer/testis antigen gene, HAGE, in chronic myeloid leukemia” that has been cited 20 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge: Continue reading Two more retractions for Spanish leukemia researcher Román-Gómez

Retraction count for Dipak Das rises to 17

We have four more retractions by Dipak Das, the disgraced UConn researcher found by the university to have committed 145 counts of misconduct. All appear in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology (we left the journal off when we initially posted, as commenters noted):

Redox regulation of angiotensin II preconditioning of the myocardium requires MAP kinase signaling,” cited 28 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge:
Continue reading Retraction count for Dipak Das rises to 17

Protein journal retracts mystery paper that plagiarized phantom article

Protein & Peptide Letters, a Bentham title, has retracted a paper for plagiarism, but it’s the unhelpful — bordering on insulting — notice that caught our eye.

The abstract for the notice, the rest of which  sits behind a $63.10 (plus tax) pay wall on Ingenta Connect, reads:

As per Bentham Science’s policy, the following article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief and its Authors published in `Protein & Peptide Letters“ due to their use of text obtained from another paper published in the Biochemical Journal.

Oh, my. Where to begin…

Continue reading Protein journal retracts mystery paper that plagiarized phantom article

Glasgow’s Beatson Institute investigating circumstances of Cell retraction for inappropriate images

The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, Scotland is looking into how inappropriate images ended up in a Cell paper that has just been retracted.

Here’s the notice for the paper by Lynne Marshall, Niall S. Kenneth, and Robert J. White: Continue reading Glasgow’s Beatson Institute investigating circumstances of Cell retraction for inappropriate images

University College London mitochondrial biologist resigns after three retractions for image fraud

Courtesy Nature Publishing Group

A biologist at University College London (UCL) has resigned his post and taken responsibility for “inappropriate figures manipulations” in three now-retracted papers.

Assegid Garedew, formerly a senior research investigator in Salvador Moncada‘s group, stepped down earlier this summer in the midst of an investigation that should be completed soon, Moncada tells Retraction Watch.

The three retraction notices for papers by Garedew and colleagues are all similar.

From Cell Metabolism: “Mitochondrial Dynamics, Biogenesis, and Function Are Coordinated with the Cell Cycle by APC/CCDH1“, cited once, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge: Continue reading University College London mitochondrial biologist resigns after three retractions for image fraud

More shoes drop for Chinese author who made up peer reviewer addresses

Last month, we brought you the story of Guang-Zhi He of the Guiyang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China, an enterprising fellow who got caught faking the email addresses of potential peer reviewers. At the time, Elsevier, who published journals where He published, told us there would be several retractions other than the one we reported on.

Three of those have appeared, in the same journal, Experimental Parasitology, and saying the same thing: Continue reading More shoes drop for Chinese author who made up peer reviewer addresses

A Wnt-er’s tale: Blood pulls second signaling paper from Spanish scientists over image fakery

Blood has pulled a paper 2007 paper from a group of Spanish researchers, one of whom appears to have been manipulating images.

The group’s work became the focus of expressions of concern from the Journal of Clinical Oncology this spring and in 2010.

The article, “Epigenetic regulation of Wnt-signaling pathway in acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” purported to show “a role of abnormal Wnt signaling in ALL and establish a group of patients with a significantly worse prognosis (methylated group)” and earned a commentary on the significance of the findings.

But as the notice explains, the first author lifted and manipulated a figure from a previously published article: Continue reading A Wnt-er’s tale: Blood pulls second signaling paper from Spanish scientists over image fakery

Authors retract prostate cancer-grape seed compound paper for figure presentation error

University of Alabama researchers have retracted a paper claiming that a grape skin seed compound might have anti-prostate cancer effects.

Here’s the notice for “Proanthocyanidins from grape seeds inhibit expression of matrix metalloproteinases in human prostate carcinoma cells, which is associated with the inhibition of activation of MAPK and NFκB”: Continue reading Authors retract prostate cancer-grape seed compound paper for figure presentation error

Seeing red (wine): Another retraction for Dipak Das, making count 13

Today’s Retraction Watch, to paraphrase Sesame Street, is brought to you by the number 13.

Earlier, we reported on several retractions from Diederik Stapel that bring his total to that number, and now we’ve learned about number 13 for Dipak Das. Das is of course the UConn researcher who was found to have committed 145 counts of misconduct in his studies of the red wine compound resveratrol and other subjects.

Here’s the notice, from The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, for “Resveratrol, a unique phytoalexin present in red wine, delivers either survival signal or death signal to the ischemic myocardium depending on dose:” Continue reading Seeing red (wine): Another retraction for Dipak Das, making count 13