Weekend reads: Paper mills bribe editors; Dana-Farber researchers to retract paper; ‘The Next Battle in Higher Ed’

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to nearly 400. There are more than 46,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains well over 200 titles. And … Continue reading Weekend reads: Paper mills bribe editors; Dana-Farber researchers to retract paper; ‘The Next Battle in Higher Ed’

Exclusive: Paper-mill articles buoyed Spanish dean’s research output

Last year, a professor and dean at a university in Spain suddenly began publishing papers with a multitude of far-flung researchers. His coauthors, until then exclusively national, now came from places like India, China, Nepal, South Korea, Georgia, Austria, and the United States. How these unlikely collaborations began is not entirely clear. But a six-month … Continue reading Exclusive: Paper-mill articles buoyed Spanish dean’s research output

Exclusive: COPE threatens Elsevier journal with sanctions for ‘clear breakdown’ before seven retractions

An Elsevier journal has retracted seven articles by a prolific data fabricator – three and a half years after the publisher said it would retract 10 of his papers, and five months after the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) threatened the journal with sanctions for the delay.  As we previously reported, the Journal of the … Continue reading Exclusive: COPE threatens Elsevier journal with sanctions for ‘clear breakdown’ before seven retractions

Psychology professor earns retractions after publishing with ‘repeat offenders’

A psychologist in Australia has earned a pair of retractions after publishing several papers with international coauthors suspected of authorship fraud, Retraction Watch has learned.  Kelly-Ann Allen, an associate professor at Monash University, in Clayton, and editor-in-chief of two psychology journals, declined to comment for this article. The retraction notices, both in Frontiers journals, cite … Continue reading Psychology professor earns retractions after publishing with ‘repeat offenders’

Weekend reads: NEJM’s racist past; ‘journal editors are like gods’; Harvard accused of pushing out misinformation researcher for criticizing Meta

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to over 375. There are more than 45,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains well over 200 titles. And … Continue reading Weekend reads: NEJM’s racist past; ‘journal editors are like gods’; Harvard accused of pushing out misinformation researcher for criticizing Meta

What’s in a name? Made-up authors are penning dozens of papers

Researchers apparently don’t need to be real to publish in scientific journals.  Take Nicholas Zafetti of Clemson University, in South Carolina, who has at least nine publications to his name. Or Giorgos Jimenez of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with 12 papers under his belt. Both identities seem to be bogus, according to Alexander Magazinov, a … Continue reading What’s in a name? Made-up authors are penning dozens of papers

Archaeologists claimed old findings as their own, critic says

Around Christmas last year, Preston Sowell received an unpleasant delivery. An archaeologist who knew about Sowell’s work in southeastern Peru sent him a paper about new findings in a particular part of the country Sowell, an independent environmental scientist, was familiar with. The paper, written by several of Sowell’s former colleagues, contained a “shocking” surprise.  … Continue reading Archaeologists claimed old findings as their own, critic says

Weekend reads: Why one chemist hasn’t made tenure; retractions in neuroscience; ‘pay to publish trash’

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to over 375. There are more than 43,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains well over 200 titles. … Continue reading Weekend reads: Why one chemist hasn’t made tenure; retractions in neuroscience; ‘pay to publish trash’

Sage retracts more than 200 papers from journal for compromised peer review

The publisher Sage has retracted 209 articles from an engineering journal after an investigation found “compromised peer review or 3rd party involvement,” according to a company spokesperson.   The retractions, all from the International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Education, stem from an investigation that led Sage to retract 122 papers – as well as fire … Continue reading Sage retracts more than 200 papers from journal for compromised peer review

Guest post: A look behind the scenes of bulk retractions from Sage

When I began my graduate work almost 15 years ago, retractions of papers in academic journals were rare, reserved mainly for clear misconduct or serious errors. Today, rarity has given way to routine, with retractions coming more often and increasingly in bulk.  Sage is not immune to large-scale retractions, nor are we passive observers of … Continue reading Guest post: A look behind the scenes of bulk retractions from Sage