Search Results for: fraud

Third retraction for GWU biologist as university seeks to dismiss his $8 million lawsuit

Cancer biologist Rakesh Kumar has chalked up another retraction, this time for “identical,” “duplicated,” and “replicated” figures and images. It comes on the heels of a flurry of motions in Kumar’s $8 million lawsuit against his employer, George Washington University, for breach of contract and emotional distress because it removed him as department chair last year and … Continue reading Third retraction for GWU biologist as university seeks to dismiss his $8 million lawsuit

Weekend reads: Should retirement-age scientists make way?; no pay-for-fast-track peer review

The week at Retraction Watch featured lots of news about exercise. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

So you want to be a whistleblower? Part II

This is the second article in a series by John R. Thomas, Jr., a lawyer at Gentry Locke [Editor’s note, 3/26/19: He has since moved to Haley, Hafemann, Magee and Thomas] who represents whistleblowers in a variety of False Claims Act cases. In this installment, he writes about how whistleblowers can tell if they have … Continue reading So you want to be a whistleblower? Part II

Misconduct earns researcher a five-year ban on federal funding

A University of Minnesota former chemistry graduate student has been banned from receiving federal funding for five years based on “a preponderance of the evidence that the Respondent intentionally and knowingly engaged in research misconduct.” Venkata J. Reddy appears to have manipulated findings in one R01 grant application. In recent years, bans are less common than having … Continue reading Misconduct earns researcher a five-year ban on federal funding

Trove of VA reports reveals research misconduct, medical malpractice

Last week, the Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General released eight years of reports investigating allegations of nefarious behavior at VA hospitals and institutions around the country, ranging from mistreating a patient in Florida, misspending grant money in New York, and conducting unauthorized research in Iowa. In one report,

Weekend reads: Faith-based peer review; lab bloopers; post-publication peer review etiquette

The week at Retraction Watch featured a lawsuit over the authorship of a paper, and a look at when exactly a study should be retracted. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

“Super-surgeon” Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct, per one Karolinska investigation

Surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who is under investigation for allegedly downplaying dangers of an experimental surgery, has been cleared of some misconduct allegations by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Macchiarini, a thoracic surgeon, has made headlines for repairing damaged airways using tracheas from cadavers and even synthetic tracheas, both treated with the patients’ own stem cells to … Continue reading “Super-surgeon” Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct, per one Karolinska investigation

Weekend reads: Yelp for journals; where do the postdocs go?; scientific papers’ hidden jokes

This week at Retraction Watch featured two Office of Research Integrity findings, and retractions in the Voinnet and Hanna cases. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Unhappy medium: Penn State website retracts article touting student psychic

Onward State, an alternative student news website for Penn State University, has pulled an article about a student psychic for promoting “one of the most fraudulent, predatory practices around.” The psychic has been given her own reality TV show on ABC Family (an oxymoron if ever there was one). The newspaper had reported the news … Continue reading Unhappy medium: Penn State website retracts article touting student psychic

Former Columbia postdoc faked Alzheimer’s research in Cell and Nature

Ryousuke Fujita, a former Columbia University postdoc who admitted to having faked the findings of a 2011 Cell paper in a retraction notice last year, also faked the results of a 2013 Nature paper, according to a new report from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). Fujita’s work, in conjunction with Asa Abeliovich, was widely hailed … Continue reading Former Columbia postdoc faked Alzheimer’s research in Cell and Nature