Search Results for: plagiarism

Quantum physicists learn about Heisenberg’s (publishing) uncertainty principle the hard way

As Werner Heisenberg famously conjectured, you can’t measure an atomic particle’s momentum and position at the same time. But perhaps the principle named for the German physicist and godfather of quantum mechanics should be applied to another important scientific truth: you can’t publish the same article in two different but competing journals. Just ask a … Continue reading Quantum physicists learn about Heisenberg’s (publishing) uncertainty principle the hard way

Why aren’t there more retractions in business and economics journals?

A new paper has catalogued retractions over the past few decades in business and economics journals — and hasn’t found very many. In “Retraction, Dishonesty and Plagiarism: Analysis of a Crucial Issue for Academic Publishing, and the Inadequate Responses from Leading Journals in Economics and Management Disciplines,” which just went online in the Journal of … Continue reading Why aren’t there more retractions in business and economics journals?

Serial plagiarists earn lifetime publishing ban from Saudi journal

In April, we wrote about a group of cancer researchers from Tunisia: The M.O. of the group…appears to be quite simple: Find a study that looks easy to “replicate,” change a few of the particulars and submit as if it were a piece of local, original work. One of the papers we cited in that … Continue reading Serial plagiarists earn lifetime publishing ban from Saudi journal

I will not plagiarize, I will not plagiarize, No plagiaré…: When a journal requires a public apology

This one is an oldie but a goodie. We’ve published a few accounts of what it feels like to have your work plagiarized. But often absent from accounts like that are the views of the plagiarists. So here’s one. In 2009, the Cuban Journal of Endocrinology retracted a 2000 paper by a researcher who acknowledged … Continue reading I will not plagiarize, I will not plagiarize, No plagiaré…: When a journal requires a public apology

Double bind: Duplication of bandaging paper leads to retraction

The Journal of Vascular Surgery is retracting — with vigor — a paper it published online in March after discovering that the authors had published essentially the same article for the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology some months earlier. Both papers are titled “Randomized controlled trial comparing treatment outcome of two compression … Continue reading Double bind: Duplication of bandaging paper leads to retraction

JBC publisher ASBMB hiring manager of publication ethics — and why Retraction Watch is cheering

We’re not generally — or ever — in the habit of running job ads here on Retraction Watch. But the purpose of this post is to highlight a new position available at the American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB) that we think is a great opportunity and a step forward for the society. … Continue reading JBC publisher ASBMB hiring manager of publication ethics — and why Retraction Watch is cheering

“Administrative error” leads to duplication retraction

Forgive us if we’re a tad skeptical here, but we’re not convinced about the, um, sincerity of the following retraction notice. The International Journal of Biological Macromolecules has retracted a paper it published earlier this year by a group of Canadian researchers who had already published the same paper in a different journal. The article, … Continue reading “Administrative error” leads to duplication retraction

Another retraction from University of Waterloo, this time for duplication

Canada’s University of Waterloo is racking up the retractions, with one in July for plagiarism, another earlier this month for faked data from a graduate student who had her master’s degree revoked, and now a third for duplication. Here’s the notice, for “The influence of friends, family, and older peers on smoking among elementary school … Continue reading Another retraction from University of Waterloo, this time for duplication

Group’s duplication retractions span the globe, from New Zealand to Romania to Croatia

The retraction count continues to grow for a group of Iranian scientists who appear to have published similar work four times. The group was forced to retract a Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases paper in March. That retraction came alongside one in the New Zealand Journal of Medical Laboratory Science, whose editor had tipped … Continue reading Group’s duplication retractions span the globe, from New Zealand to Romania to Croatia

How does it feel to have your scientific paper plagiarized? Part 2

On May 11 of this year, Juan Antonio Baeza, an environmental engineering researcher at Universitat Autonoma Barcelona was looking for papers in Water Research about knowledge-based systems, the subject of his 1999 PhD thesis. As he tells Retraction Watch, when he came across “Improving the efficiencies of simultaneous organic substance and nitrogen removal in a … Continue reading How does it feel to have your scientific paper plagiarized? Part 2