A small survey of UK academics suggests misconduct such as faking data and plagiarism is occurring surprisingly often. The survey — of 215 UK academics — estimated that 1 in 7 had plagiarized from someone else’s work, and nearly 1 in 5 had fabricated data. Here’s how Joanna Williams and David Roberts at the University of Kent … Continue reading Have 1 in 5 UK academics fabricated data?
An engineering journal has retracted two papers for faked or rigged peer review, but authors of one of the papers are objecting to the retraction. The first author of that paper told us he and his co-authors “absolutely disagree” with the retraction, and are prepared to use “legal means” to safeguard their “rights and interests.” He … Continue reading Engineering journal pulls two papers for “compromised” peer review
JAMA authors have retracted — and replaced — a 2014 paper about the mental health effects of household moves on kids, after they found errors while completing an additional analysis. The original paper concluded that in “families who moved out of high-poverty neighborhoods, boys experienced an increase and girls a decrease in rates of depression and conduct … Continue reading JAMA authors retract (and replace) paper about moves and kids’ mental health
SEOUL — When does plagiarizing an entire textbook not violate copyright law? In a South Korean court, apparently. On Wednesday, a district judge found ten professors who plagiarized textbooks guilty of copyright infringement—but ruled that four professors who added their names to subsequent printings were not guilty. This case, which began as an alleged plagiarism ring … Continue reading In Korean textbook scheme, some plagiarists found not guilty
The week at Retraction Watch featured the corrections of papers claiming that conservative beliefs were linked to psychotic traits, and a new member of our leaderboard, from philosophy. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
A report on the first few years of “researcher rehab” suggests that three days of intensive training have a lasting impact on participants. Specifically, among participants — all of whom had been found guilty of at least one type of misconduct — the authors report that: A year later, follow-up surveys indicate that the vast majority … Continue reading Should researchers guilty of misconduct go to “rehab”?
This week at Retraction Watch featured what may be a record for plagiarism, a paper retracted because the device researchers claimed to use hadn’t arrive in the institution yet, and a technical glitch, which meant you may have missed some of our posts. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
If authors duplicate portions of their own work in multiple papers — such as descriptions of methods, a boilerplate background to their field, etc. — should that be considered misconduct? Of course, to many journals, duplication — also known as “self-plagiarism” is a retractable offense. A recent letter to the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) from … Continue reading Poll: Is duplication misconduct?
A PLOS ONE paper about chronic pain plagiarized from multiple sources — 17, in fact. According to the retraction notice released by the journal last week, the paper contains “extensive verbatim use of text from other sources.” How did this make it past the editors? The journal published the paper in 2012 — before it began screening … Continue reading PLOS ONE paper plagiarized from 17 articles — yes, 17
A court in Finland has ruled that universities must go through the court system if they want to revoke a degree. In a precedent-setting decision, a body dubbed “the court of last resort in administrative cases” in Finland ruled that universities must apply to them to revoke someone’s degree. The ruling, which occurred this month, took place after a … Continue reading Finnish universities must now use courts to revoke degrees