Search Results for: plagiarism

“Why Growing Retractions Are (Mostly) a Good Sign”: New study makes the case

Retraction Watch readers will no doubt be familiar with the fact that retraction rates are rising, but one of the unanswered questions has been whether that increase is due to more misconduct, greater awareness, or some combination of the two. In a new paper in PLOS Medicine, Daniele Fanelli, who has studied misconduct and related … Continue reading “Why Growing Retractions Are (Mostly) a Good Sign”: New study makes the case

Holes in ASS as journal pulls two papers

The journal Applied Surface Science (okay, so maybe it’s not called ASS at the home office) is retracting a pair of articles in its December issue. The first, “Structure and mechanical properties of Ni–P electrodeposited coatings,” appeared in 2009 and was written by a group of researchers in Beijing. It has been cited nine times, … Continue reading Holes in ASS as journal pulls two papers

Columbia University misconduct retraction highlights what’s wrong with the retraction process

The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia has a retraction of a 2006 paper by a group from Columbia University that, to our minds, is the poster child for how not to handle such things. The article, “Dexmedetomidine infusion is associated with enhanced renal function after thoracic surgery,” was written by Robert J. Frumento, Helene G. Logginidou, … Continue reading Columbia University misconduct retraction highlights what’s wrong with the retraction process

Correction by punctuation? PNAS fixes paper by putting quotes around plagiarized passages

PNAS has a curious correction in a recent issue. A group from Toronto and Mount Sinai in New York, it seems, had been rather too liberal in their use of text from a previously published paper by another researcher — what we might call plagiarism, in a less charitable mood. To paraphrase Beyoncé: If you … Continue reading Correction by punctuation? PNAS fixes paper by putting quotes around plagiarized passages

Henry IV, part 2: No retraction necessary, say some authors of royal head identification paper

Last week, we reported that some of the authors of a 2010 paper in the BMJ claiming to have identified Henry IV’s head thought the study should be retracted based on new evidence. Some of the other authors have now responded to that call for retraction, which appeared on the BMJ’s site alongside the paper. … Continue reading Henry IV, part 2: No retraction necessary, say some authors of royal head identification paper

Retraction for authors of muscle paper who lifted data from their own 18-year-old article

For the second time in a week, we’ve seen a journal retract a paper because it duplicated something in its own archive. Yesterday, it was a case of plagiarism in a plant journal. Today, we find that the Journal of Anatomy has retracted an article it published earlier this year by a group of Slovenian … Continue reading Retraction for authors of muscle paper who lifted data from their own 18-year-old article

Alirio Melendez categorically denies data falsification, alleges cover-up

Alirio Melendez, who was found guilty of scientific misconduct by the National University of Singapore and has had 13 papers retracted, says none of what he’s being accused of is true. In a statement posted yesterday at ajmelendez.co.uk and this morning at Retraction Watch, Melendez acknowledges that fraud occurred in his laboratory, but “categorically” denies … Continue reading Alirio Melendez categorically denies data falsification, alleges cover-up

Virtually verbatim text earns retraction of neonate paper, gives authors a pass

A pair of authors from Italy has retracted their 2012 article in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine for including chunks of text with a “high degree of similarity” from other published sources. But rest assured: the authors, we’re told, didn’t intend to do so. The article, “Central venous catheterization and thrombosis in newborns: … Continue reading Virtually verbatim text earns retraction of neonate paper, gives authors a pass

Ask Retraction Watch: What happens to a paper draft after a lab member realizes data are flawed?

Another installment of Ask Retraction Watch: A lab member is asked to write up a paper with some data and after a couple of drafts and some more experiments he/she realizes the data is flawed. The lab head decides to pursue the paper anyway and writes it up with another lab member. Can they use the … Continue reading Ask Retraction Watch: What happens to a paper draft after a lab member realizes data are flawed?

Journal of Virtual Studies retracts Second Life paper that was, um, virtually on its second life

Second Life is a virtual reality site in which you can “Experience endless surprises and unexpected delights in a world imagined and created by people like you.” Only Nikolaos Pellas, of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, is now having two papers on virtual reality retracted because he apparently experienced endless surprises and unexpected delights in … Continue reading Journal of Virtual Studies retracts Second Life paper that was, um, virtually on its second life