Quick updates on work by two people whose names appear frequently on Retraction Watch: Diederik Stapel and Ulrich Lichtenthaler. Last month, we reported on the 50th retraction for Stapel. Here’s number 51 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, for “The flexible unconscious: Investigating the judgmental impact of varieties of unaware perception:”
We’ve been following the case of Kenji Okajima, a professor at Nagoya City University in Japan who was suspended for six months following an investigation into work in his lab. Bits of the story — including at least one other university investigation, and scrutiny of Okajima’s colleagues, one of whom was fired — have been … Continue reading Kenji Okajima retraction count grows to five
Last November we wrote about the case of Alejandra Bravo and Mario Soberón, a wife-husband team of microbiologists studying genetically modified crops, who had been disciplined by the National Autonomous University of Mexico for having manipulated images in 11 papers. The tinkering did not rise to the level of fraud, according to the university — … Continue reading Hefty correction in JBC for GMO researchers in image tampering case
A recently released survey of Belgian scientists suggests that Flemish medical researchers admit to having made up or massaged data more often than their counterparts around their world. The survey, by the Dutch science magazine Eos with the help of Joeri Tijdink, of VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, and the Pascal Decroos Fund for … Continue reading One in twelve Belgian medical scientists admits having “made up and/or massaged data”: Survey
It’s Diederik Stapel’s golden retraction: Number 50. The lucky notice appears in Social Psychology:
Brian Deer’s name will no doubt be familiar to many Retraction Watch readers. Deer, of course, is the award-winning investigative reporter known for his reporting on numerous medical issues, including Andrew Wakefield’s now-retracted research into autism and vaccines. Deer is giving a talk next week at the UK’s “Evidence Live” conference,and has a proposal that … Continue reading Brian Deer’s modest proposal for post-publication peer review
Retraction Watch readers may recall the case of Don Poldermans, a prominent Dutch cardiology researcher who left a research position in late 2011 amid an investigation into his work. In a letter in the American Journal of Medicine titled “Scientific Fraud or a Rush to Judgement?” Poldermans — three of whose papers are subject to … Continue reading Cardiologist accused of misconduct strikes back in a journal
Consider this a bit of a thought experiment, but hear us out. The National Institutes of Health earlier this month notified the scientists it funds that, thanks to the sequester, many may soon face cuts in those grants as the agency tries to deal with a reduction in its $30.9 billion budget. In her March … Continue reading Could the sequester mean more business for Retraction Watch?
On Tuesday, we reported on the case of Adam Savine, a former graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis who was found by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) to have committed misconduct. Today, Blythe Bernhard, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has an illuminating Q and A with Todd Braver, whose lab Savine worked … Continue reading Wash U psychologist sheds light on inquiry against former psychology grad student
A group of Belgian researchers has retracted two decade-old papers in Arthritis & Rheumatism following an investigation and court case. The papers involved the use of the drug infliximab — sold by Johnson & Johnson as Remicade — to treat Sjögren’s syndrome, an auto-immune condition marked by the destruction of exocrine glands that secrete saliva … Continue reading Authors retract two papers on Remicade following legal battles