Drumroll please. The tally of retractions in MEDLINE — one of the world’s largest databases of scientific abstracts — for the last fiscal year has just been released, and the number is: 664. Earlier this year, we scratched our heads over the data from 2015, which showed retractions had risen dramatically, to 684. The figures for … Continue reading Retractions holding steady at more than 650 in FY2016
This week at Retraction Watch featured some big numbers: How a request to correct a single paper turned into 19 retractions, and 18 tips for giving horrible presentations. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
This summer, Ottawa Citizen reporter Tom Spears was sitting by a lake on vacation when he opened a spam email from a publisher. Amused to see the sender was a journal focused on bioethics, he got an idea. I thought, what if I just throw something outrageous at them? The situation should sound familiar to readers who … Continue reading Surprise! Paper retracted after author tells journal it’s a “pile of dung”
Last year, a cancer researcher wrote to the Journal of Biological Chemistry, asking to correct one of his papers. The journal responded by requesting the raw data used to prepare his figures. Then, in a follow-up request, it asked for raw data behind the figures in 20 additional published articles. And when all was said and … Continue reading How a researcher’s request to correct one paper turned into 19 retractions
A study linking vaccines to autism and other neurological problems has been removed by a Frontiers journal after receiving heavy criticism since it was accepted last week. The abstract — published online in Frontiers in Public Health after being accepted November 21 — reported findings from anonymous online questionnaires completed by 415 mothers of home-schooled children 6-12 years … Continue reading Study linking vaccines to autism pulled following heavy criticism
The week at Retraction Watch featured the story of a graduate student who fought back after being caught in the middle of a fraud case, and the retraction of a hotly debated paper from Nature Cell Biology. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
A plastic surgery journal in India has retracted an article about rehabilitation following removal of an eye after a patient contacted the editors to say she hadn’t consented to publish her picture. Mukund Jagannathan, the journal’s editor-in-chief and a plastic surgeon in India, told Retraction Watch: The patient wrote to the editor, mentioning that her … Continue reading Patient didn’t okay including her picture in plastic surgery paper
Three psychiatric studies of children contained a myriad of problems that may have put participants at greater risk than was disclosed by consent forms, according to a 2014 letter sent to hundreds of the participants and their families. Through a public records request, we’ve obtained a copy of the letter — which lists a host of problems in … Continue reading Study errors “may have placed you or your child at a greater risk of harm”: 2014 letter to parents
Last week, we learned a 2016 paper heavily discussed on PubPeer might be retracted — today, we learned that Nature Cell Biology has indeed pulled the paper, citing inappropriate image modifications. As we reported last week, a comment on PubPeer flagged as coming from an author said they had requested a retraction. A representative of National … Continue reading Nature Cell Biology retracts hotly debated cancer paper
The week at Retraction Watch featured news of a publisher hack, and a story about a Nature Cell Biology paper likely headed for retraction. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: