Search Results for: medical

Singapore investigation leads to another retraction, correction for Harvard research fellow

After an investigation found evidence of misconduct, a biologist has issued a third retraction. Sudarsanareddy Lokireddy — now a research fellow at Harvard Medical School — “admitted falsification,” a Research Integrity Officer at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore told us in December. According to The Scientist, another journal has also published a correction that the authors had requested earlier. … Continue reading Singapore investigation leads to another retraction, correction for Harvard research fellow

NEJM quickly corrects disclosure statement, errors in diabetes paper

After publishing a paper about neuropathy in diabetic patients last week, The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) immediately corrected it after editors learned of errors and some missing disclosures within the article. The notice explains that the sole author of the paper, “Diabetic Sensory and Motor Neuropathy,” reported incorrect doses for several medications, and … Continue reading NEJM quickly corrects disclosure statement, errors in diabetes paper

How did two papers on same gene with different authors, publishers, end up with identical retraction notices?

Here’s an interesting case: We’ve found two retracted papers that describe the same gene, and both have nearly identical retraction notices. What’s unusual is that the two papers don’t have any authors in common, and appeared in two different journals published by two different companies. The cause of both papers’ demise: Plagiarism, and use of unpublished data … Continue reading How did two papers on same gene with different authors, publishers, end up with identical retraction notices?

One in 25 papers contains inappropriately duplicated images, screen finds

Elisabeth Bik, a microbiologist at Stanford, has for years been a behind-the-scenes force in scientific integrity, anonymously submitting reports on plagiarism and image duplication to journal editors. Now, she’s ready to come out of the shadows. With the help of two editors at microbiology journals, she has conducted a massive study looking for image duplication … Continue reading One in 25 papers contains inappropriately duplicated images, screen finds

Three HER2-cancer review papers tagged with expressions of concern

The Oncologist has tagged three review papers that share a first author with an expression of concern. The three papers, which have together been cited more than 1,000 times, focus on HER2, a gene that can contribute to breast cancer. Though the papers contain errors, the conclusions — about how the HER2 gene serves as … Continue reading Three HER2-cancer review papers tagged with expressions of concern

Do interventions to reduce misconduct actually work? Maybe not, says new report

Can we teach good behavior in the lab? That’s the premise behind a number of interventions aimed at improving research integrity, invested in by universities across the world and even private companies. Trouble is, a new review from the Cochrane Library shows that there is little good evidence to show these interventions work. We spoke … Continue reading Do interventions to reduce misconduct actually work? Maybe not, says new report

Weekend reads: Disney retraction request; NEJM under fire; how to fight unfavorable reviews

The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a hoax article from a philosophy journal and an image in a paper that looked familiar because it was from a catalog. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Does this scientific image look familiar? It’s from a catalog

There’s something strange about a 2008 paper on the role of nicotine receptors in promoting lung cancer: One of the western blot analyses looks like a version of an image from a commercial catalog. A commenter on PubPeer pointed out the similarities between an image in “Role of α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in human non-small cell lung cancer proliferation,” which was published in Cell … Continue reading Does this scientific image look familiar? It’s from a catalog

Authors pull 14-year-old paper from PNAS over concerns of fabrication

Authors have retracted a 2002 paper from PNAS because part of a figure “may have been fabricated,” and they no longer have the original data to prove otherwise. The paper in question, “Deficient Smad7 expression: A putative molecular defect in scleroderma,” studied the signaling pathways that may underlie the autoimmune disease. It has been cited 198 times, according … Continue reading Authors pull 14-year-old paper from PNAS over concerns of fabrication

Neuroscientist pleads guilty in court to fraud, gets two-year suspended sentence

A Parkinson’s researcher pleaded guilty to fraud in court this morning in Brisbane, Australia, and received a two-year suspended sentence. Court sentences for fraud are rare, to say the least. This one follows an investigation by Bruce Murdoch‘s former employer, the University of Queensland, into 92 papers — resulting in the retraction of three papers co-authored by Caroline Barwood, … Continue reading Neuroscientist pleads guilty in court to fraud, gets two-year suspended sentence