For the past eight years, an education researcher in Spain has been waging an unsuccessful battle – including legal action – to quash a retraction she argues should never have happened. Her paper, about the use of digital tools in early childhood education, was pulled by Computers & Education just months after it was published … Continue reading Overturning a dubious retraction proves difficult for education professor
The co-editors in chief and most editorial board members of the journal Critical Public Health have resigned their roles to start a new, independent journal, citing differences with their publisher, Taylor & Francis. “While there are inevitable tensions for a critically oriented scholarly journal that is also a commodity marketed by a commercial publisher, over … Continue reading Editors of public health journal resign over differences with publisher
A breast cancer researcher at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn has sued the university for sex discrimination and retaliation after an institutional investigation found she committed research misconduct. Stacy Blain, an associate professor in the departments of pediatrics and cell biology at Downstate, has alleged that the university violated the Equal Pay Act by paying her … Continue reading Exclusive: Cancer researcher sues med school for retaliation after research misconduct finding
Retraction Watch readers are likely familiar with the varied — and often unsatisfying — responses of journals to scientific sleuthing that uncovers potential problems with published images. Some editors take the issues seriously, even hiring staff to respond to allegations and vet manuscripts before publication. Some, however, take years to handle the allegations, or ignore … Continue reading “Fabulous document”, “very helpful guidance”: Sleuths react to recommendations for handling image integrity issues
A retraction notice for a 2021 paper in an environmental sciences journal has us wondering if the peer review process for the publication should be declared a Superfund Site. The article, “Experimental study and numerical prediction of HTO and 36Cl− diffusion in radioactive waste at Téguline Clay,” appeared in Environmental Technology, a Taylor & Francis … Continue reading In which we ask: What exactly did peer review accomplish here?
If you’re looking for more evidence that researchers are flooding the zone with COVID-19 papers that do little to advance the state of the science, we present Psychology, Health & Medicine. The journal, a Taylor & Francis title, in April published “Mental health burden for the public affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in China: Who … Continue reading Researchers publish the same COVID-19 paper three times
As Retraction Watch readers may recall, we’ve been highlighting — and championing — the work of anonymous whistleblowers throughout the 10-year history of the blog. Our support for such anonymity, however, is not universally shared. In 2011, for example, in our column at Lab Times (unfortunately no longer online), we wrote:
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: The top retractions of 2019; Two retractions and three corrections … Continue reading Weekend reads: 100 fake professors; study on police killings retracted; false data won’t scuttle company buyout
A toxicology journal has issued an expression of concern for a group of papers about the controversial herbicide glyphosate after concluding that some of the authors didn’t adequately disclose their ties to the maker of the product. At issue are five articles that appeared in a 2016 supplement to Critical Reviews in Toxicology, a Taylor … Continue reading Journal flags papers, saying authors didn’t adequately disclose ties to Monsanto
The editorial board of an architecture journal has resigned en masse after the publisher announced it plans to terminate the editor’s contract at the end of this year. In an open letter to publisher Taylor and Francis, the editorial board of Building Research and Information says the publisher’s decision is: deeply shocking and we … Continue reading Associate editors, editorial board resign from architecture journal in protest