Nature retracted a paper on protein structures today, six years after an investigation at the University of Alabama identified several structures that were “more likely than not falsified and/or fabricated” by one of the authors. The paper came under scrutiny soon after it was published in 2006. A letter published in Nature that same year pointed … Continue reading Nature retracts paper six years after it was flagged for fraud
Nature Publishing Group is retracting three papers today, after an investigation found evidence the peer-review process had been compromised. The publisher issued a statement saying they had notified corresponding authors and institutions associated with the three papers, which were all published last year in the journals Cancer Gene Therapy and Spinal Cord. Here’s the note that’s going … Continue reading “Compromised” peer review hits three papers from Nature Publishing Group
Authors have retracted a highly cited Nature letter that purported to discover a much sought-after, stable light source from quantum dots, after they realized the light was actually coming from another source: the glass the dots were affixed to. When the paper “Non-blinking semiconductor nanocrystals” was published in 2009, it received some media coverage, such … Continue reading Authors retract highly cited Nature quantum dot letter after discovering error
Despite acknowledging in its own pages that two recent high-profile retraction notices turned out to not tell the whole story, Nature will not be updating the original retraction notices, the journal tells us. We checked in with Nature after it published two Brief Communications Arising regarding two high-profile retractions of papers describing a new method of reprogramming … Continue reading Nature: No plans to change wording of STAP retractions
Two weeks after Nature Communications published a paper on asymmetric cell division in July, it posted a retraction notice saying the paper was submitted “without the knowledge or consent” of all but the corresponding author. The following day the journal “amended” the retraction note to include the initials of the corresponding author, Aicha Metchat, then based … Continue reading Author appeals retraction after co-authors dispute Nature Comm paper
A 2011 letter to Nature from Harvard researchers received its second correction today, this time after discovering the researchers conducted experiments in which mice may have “experienced more pain and suffering than originally allowed for.” That quote comes from an accompanying editorial in the journal, a rare move for a correction to a 2011 letter. … Continue reading Animal welfare breach prompts Nature correction
The week at Retraction Watch featured a look at why a fraudster’s papers continued to earn citations after he went to prison, and criticism of Science by hundreds of researchers. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
A team of Columbia University biologists has retracted a 2013 Nature paper on the molecular pathways underlying Alzheimer’s disease, the second retraction from the group after a postdoc faked data. An April report from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) found the a first author, former Columbia postdoc Ryousuke Fujita, responsible for “knowingly and intentionally fabricating and falsifying research in seventy-four … Continue reading Columbia biologists “deeply regret” Nature retraction, after postdoc faked 74 panels in 3 papers
Upon realizing they had experienced a case of mistaken cell-line identity, the authors of a 2014 Nature paper on lung cancer think “it prudent to retract pending more thorough investigation,” as they explain in a notice published Wednesday. The problem seems to stem from more than just honest error, according to corresponding author Julian Downward, a … Continue reading Nature retraction, resignation result after lung cancer cell lines “cannot be those specified”
Following “significant concerns” raised by outside researchers and a formal university investigation, a group of authors in Taiwan has retracted a Nature Nanotechnology paper on DNA sequencing after they “could not reproduce the results of the work,” or even provide “a complete set of raw data for the original experiments.” The paper, “DNA sequencing using electrical conductance measurements … Continue reading “Significant concerns” and formal investigation unwind Nature Nanotech sequencing paper