Search Results for: medical

Another paper by GM researcher pulled over manipulation concerns

A researcher who published findings questioning the safety of genetically modified organisms has lost a second paper following concerns of image manipulation. Last week, the journal animal retracted a 2010 paper by Federico Infascelli, an animal nutrition researcher at the University of Naples, which claimed to find modified genes in the milk and blood of goats who were fed genetically modified … Continue reading Another paper by GM researcher pulled over manipulation concerns

Weekend reads: Science reporter fired; crappiest fraud ever; are journals necessary?

This week at Retraction Watch featured a big new study of retractions, another that looked at scientist productivity over time, and a new statement on how to use p values properly. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Researchers’ productivity hasn’t increased in a century, study suggests

Are individual scientists now more productive early in their careers than 100 years ago? No, according to a large analysis of publication records released by PLOS ONE today. Despite concerns of rising “salami slicing” in research papers in line with the “publish or perish” philosophy of academic publishing, the study found that individual early career researchers’ productivity has … Continue reading Researchers’ productivity hasn’t increased in a century, study suggests

Journal bans 8 authors for plagiarism

A medical journal has banned eight authors after discovering that they had published plagiarized work. We don’t see official author bans as often as we see plagiarism (occasionally, and all the time, respectively). That’s why we’re flagging this case, which is a little old — the International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health announced the ban in March 2015, … Continue reading Journal bans 8 authors for plagiarism

Authors retract striking circadian clock finding after failing to replicate

The authors of a paper showing a “striking and unanticipated” relationship between light and temperature in regulating circadian rhythms are retracting it when the results couldn’t be replicated. After being contacted by another group who couldn’t reproduce the data, the authors failed to, as well. They “have absolutely no explanation for the discrepancies with the original … Continue reading Authors retract striking circadian clock finding after failing to replicate

Ready to geek out on retraction data? Read this new preprint

There’s a new paper about retractions, and it’s chock-full of the kind of data that we love to geek out on. Enjoy. The new paper, “A Multi-dimensional Investigation of the Effects of Publication Retraction on Scholarly Impact,” appears on the preprint server arXiv — meaning it has yet to be peer-reviewed — and is co-authored … Continue reading Ready to geek out on retraction data? Read this new preprint

Weekend reads: Replication debate heats up again; NEJM fooled?; how to boost your alt-metrics

The week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the retraction of “the Creator” paper, but we also reported on a scientist under investigation losing a grant, and a case brewing at a New Jersey university. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

When misconduct strikes: A fictional tale

Pernille Rørth is not your typical novelist. She was a scientist for 25 years and was also editor-in-chief of the EMBO Journal for five years. But now, she’s written a novel – Raw Data – about an incident of misconduct that forces a top lab in Boston to retract a prominent Nature paper. The novel … Continue reading When misconduct strikes: A fictional tale

Entire paper about cell division plagiarized

A paper about the role of specific proteins in the separation of newly replicated chromosomes is being retracted from the Chinese Medical Journal, after editors found out that the entire article was plagiarized. The study, “MreBCD Associated Cytoskeleton is Required for Proper Segregation of the Chromosomal Terminus during the Division Cycle of Escherichia Coli,” names Feng … Continue reading Entire paper about cell division plagiarized

Upon discovering several errors, authors retract gastric cancer paper

After finding several errors in their paper about the molecular activity underlying gastric cancer, the authors unanimously decided to retract it. According to the retraction note, three figures in the paper had β‑actin bands that were omitted, interchanged, or both. The retraction note provides the details: