Search Results for: sting

In Korean textbook scheme, some plagiarists found not guilty

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

JAMA: No plan to retract article on fetal pain, despite outcry from anti-abortion activists

JAMA has announced it does not intend to retract a 2005 review article about fetal pain, despite requests from anti-abortion activists who claim it has been misused in debates about the procedure. Earlier this month, JAMA told one anti-abortion critic that it would take a look at the paper, which suggested that fetuses can’t feel … Continue reading JAMA: No plan to retract article on fetal pain, despite outcry from anti-abortion activists

Images that raised eyebrows flagged by another journal; Malaysian gov’t investigates

Multiple investigations have been launched into allegations of blatant duplications by a research group in Malaysia. Last week, users alleged on Twitter that three papers by the same team included pictures of cells that were copied and pasted. First author Nima Samie, affiliated with University of Malaya in Malaysia, denied the accusations — but both the Malaysian … Continue reading Images that raised eyebrows flagged by another journal; Malaysian gov’t investigates

How does Jeremy Berg plan to address reproducibility in Science?

The former director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the U.S. National Institutes of Health has a new job. On July 1st, biochemist Jeremy Berg will take the helm as the editor-in-chief of Science. He’s currently the associate senior vice chancellor for science strategy and planning in the health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. We … Continue reading How does Jeremy Berg plan to address reproducibility in Science?

Misidentified cell line fells cancer paper

Researchers have retracted a paper about a new molecular target for cancer after realizing they had mistaken the identity of their cell line. It’s all too easy to mix up cell lines, so we see plenty of retractions for that reason — and, according to an expert in the area, many more cases lurk uncorrected in … Continue reading Misidentified cell line fells cancer paper

Can misconduct be fun? A new game wants to find out

Can’t get enough of the personal and professional politics that dog a scientific career? On your off-hours, you can play a new game called Lab Wars, which lets players reenact the best – and the worst – parts of climbing the scientific career ladder. It was developed by two researchers — Caezar Al-Jassar, a structural … Continue reading Can misconduct be fun? A new game wants to find out

PLOS ONE retracts 2 malaria papers over doubts experiments ever took place

Authors have retracted a pair of PLOS ONE papers after an investigation suggested the articles might contain some fiction. In the papers, the authors describe collecting and analyzing the DNA of mosquitoes to look for changes following the introduction of bed nets treated with insecticides to combat malaria. However, an investigation by the Institut de Recherche pour … Continue reading PLOS ONE retracts 2 malaria papers over doubts experiments ever took place

Should researchers guilty of misconduct go to “rehab”?

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”?

Philosopher earns 14th retraction for plagiarism

Today, we bring you a case of a serial plagiarizer. Martin W. F. Stone was a philosophy professor at the University of Leuven — by one account “widely admired and highly respected” — until 2010, when an investigation at the school concluded that his work is “highly questionable in terms of scientific integrity.” Over the past … Continue reading Philosopher earns 14th retraction for plagiarism

Weekend reads: How to prove (and find) false claims; confessions of a wasteful scientist

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: