SCOPUS, the publication database maintained by Elsevier, has discontinued nearly 300 journals since 2013, including multiple journals published by OMICS Publishing Group. Although the reasons the widely used database gives for discontinuing journals often vary, in all cases OMICS journals were removed over “Publication Concerns.” Here’s what SCOPUS said recently about how it vets journals:
The week at Retraction Watch featured the case of a peer review nightmare, and a story about harassment by a would-be scientific critic. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
We receive our fair share of tips, and most are well-intentioned attempts to clean up the scientific literature. However, sometimes would-be critics can veer into personal attacks. As chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics, Virginia Barbour has seen a lot. But nothing quite prepared her for being cyberbullied by someone the organisation had agreed to … Continue reading They agreed to listen to a complaint about a paper. Then the harassment began.
From time to time, academics will devise a “sting” operation, designed to expose journals’ weaknesses. We’ve seen scientists submit a duplicated paper, a deeply flawed weight loss paper designed to generate splashy headlines (it worked), and an entirely fake paper – where even the author calls it a “pile of dung.” So it wasn’t a … Continue reading The latest sting: Will predatory journals hire “Dr. Fraud”?
The president of a top university in Taiwan has announced he will resign from his post at the end of his first term in June. President Pan-chyr Yang of National Taiwan University (NTU) has opted not to seek a second term as president given two recent investigations — one which concluded last month and one which … Continue reading President of Taiwan university to step down amidst investigation
Ask and ye shall receive: A journal has retracted a 2014 paper by Paolo Macchiarini, upon request from the Karolinska Institutet (KI). The latest news is only one step in a long-running saga about former star surgeon Macchiarini, who was dismissed from KI last year. To read more, check out our timeline. KI announced it was … Continue reading Macchiarini blames Karolinska for losing data as he retracts 2014 paper
Two countries have recently announced plans to learn more about research misconduct, with the goal of preventing it from happening in the first place. In Japan, the effort takes the form of a joint study group among six universities, which will interview researchers who have engaged in misconduct to discover patterns and common factors for their … Continue reading Japan, Taiwan taking closer look at fraud — and how to stop it
The week at Retraction Watch featured a lawsuit threat following criticism of a popular education program, and the new editor of PLOS ONE’s explanation of why submissions are down. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
Susana Gonzalez, a rising star in stem cell research, has had a rough year. In addition to being fired from her former research institute (which she is now appealing), one of her grants (totaling nearly 2 million Euros) was suspended. Most recently, she has received two new retractions in Nature Communications over figure duplications and … Continue reading Two more retractions for stem cell researcher appealing her dismissal
Chemistry researchers in China have retracted their 2016 paper after reporting that the raw data did not match what they presented in the article. The authors were attempting to develop a method to produce large amounts of a high-quality two-dimensional form of antimonene, a prized crystal structure that has been notoriously difficult to synthesize reliably. They … Continue reading Why don’t the raw data match what was reported in a chemistry paper?