Retraction Watch

The grad student who found a fatal error that may affect lots of papers

A team of researchers in England has retracted a 2014 paper after a graduate student affiliated with the group found a fatal error while trying to replicate parts of the work — and which might affect similar studies by other scientists, as well.

The article, “Perceptual load affects spatial tuning of neuronal populations in human early visual cortex,” was written by Benjamin de Haas, then of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College London, and his colleagues at UCL.

According to the retraction notice:

Elsevier looking into “very serious concerns” after student calls out journal for fleet of Star Trek articles, other issues

An undergraduate student in the United Kingdom has taken to task the editors of a purportedly scholarly journal for having published more than 100 papers by a Maltese researcher with a deep affinity for Star Trek.

In a Dec. 8, 2020, letter to the editors of Early Human Development (EHD), Hampton Gaddy, a BA student at the University of Oxford, accuses the journal of having published “a large number of unprofessional articles” by Victor Grech, of the University of Malta.

Grech is a pediatric cardiologist, and, evidently a huge Star Trek fan. He’s also a prolific author, and seems to have turned EHD into something of a personal fanzine. As Gaddy notes in his letter, Grech has written at least 113 papers in EHD, an Elsevier title, 57 as sole author:

Miami dean stepped down weeks after misconduct finding

Charles A. Downs, via University of Miami

An associate dean at the University of Miami stepped down from his post two weeks after agreeing to sanctions stemming from a finding of misconduct by a government watchdog, Retraction Watch has learned.

Yesterday, we reported that the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) found that Charles Downs, “engaged in research misconduct by intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly falsifying and/or fabricating data” in six federal grant applications while on the faculty of the University of Arizona.

Downs was appointed associate dean of Miami’s nursing school in 2018, and stepped down from the position on December 4, according to a university spokesperson. He remains an associate professor at the school.

Authors of meta-analysis on heart disease retract it when they realize a NEJM reference had been retracted

The authors of a meta-analysis on predicting cardiovascular disease have retracted the paper because it included a study that was retracted between the time they submitted their article and the date it was published.

If only there were a repository of retracted articles that authors and editors could check to see if the references in the studies they publish are still reliable.

Wait, we have one of those!

Researcher, until last week a Miami dean, faked data in grant applications, says federal watchdog

A former researcher at the University of Arizona who ~~is now~~ was until last week an associate dean at the University of Miami “engaged in research misconduct by intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly falsifying and/or fabricating data” in six federal grant applications, according to a new finding by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

Charles A. Downs’ work “focuses on acute lung injury and pulmonary diseases,” according to a 2018 press release from the University of Miami announcing his appointment. He “neither admits nor denies ORI’s findings of research misconduct,” the ORI announced today. The agency said that Downs

Researcher at Tehran medical school loses three papers because “overlap without cross-referencing is not legitimated”

A pharmacy researcher at Tehran University of Medical Sciences has had three papers retracted, and one corrected, because he duplicated his other articles.

Hamid Akbari Javar is the common author on all four papers, which appear in the African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, the Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the International Journal of Molecular Medicine.

Narges Shokri, of the School of Pharmacy of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, also in Iran, is an author of the three retracted papers, but not the corrected paper in the International Journal of Molecular Medicine.

Here’s the notice for “Comparison of Calcium Phosphate and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles as Dermal Penetration Enhancers for Albumin,” in the Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences:

Public health journal “seeking further expert advice” on January paper about COVID-19 PCR testing by high-profile virologist

After a petition from nearly two dozen people in Europe, the United States and Asia, a public health journal says it is investigating an article it published last January about a way to detect the virus that causes COVID-19.

[Please see an update on this post.]

The paper, “Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR,” appeared in Eurosurveillance. It was received on January 21 and accepted on January 22, a remarkably quick turnaround under normal circumstances, although not unheard of during the pandemic. It has been cited well over 800 times, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science.

The senior author of the work was Christian Drosten, of the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, who became something of a celebrity virologist — the Anthony Fauci of Germany — in the early days of the pandemic. As Science reported in late April, Drosten’s podcast, Coronavirus Update, became the most popular podcast in Germany, garnering more than 1 million downloads per episode.

Western University materials scientist committed misconduct, according to investigation

An investigation into the work of a researcher at Western University “resulted in a clear determination of research misconduct,” according to a retraction notice, but details are scant.

Here’s the notice for “Synthetic peptides derived from salivary proteins and the control of surface charge densities of dental surfaces improve the inhibition of dental calculus formation,” published in Materials Science and Engineering: C in 2017 by Bernd Grohe:

Weekend reads: Google AI researcher fired after being asked to retract paper; journal accused of stonewalling on paper “used to justify human rights violations;” reflecting on a COVID-19 retraction

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance.

The week at Retraction Watch featured:

Stem cell researchers lose two more papers, making three
A year after a federal misconduct finding, a cancer researcher loses a paper
Journal retracts 70-year-old article on homosexuality for “long discredited beliefs, prejudices, and practices”
COVID-19 pneumonia paper earns expression of concern — for being similar to a pre-pandemic article
Bad, Medicine: Journal publishes doubly-brutal retraction notice

Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 39.

Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Bad, Medicine: Journal publishes doubly-brutal retraction notice

A journal has retracted a paper it published earlier this year for pretty much every sin under the sun, scoring an own-goal in the process.

The article, “Effects and safety of tanreqing injection on viral pneumonia: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis,” was led by Yue Qiu, of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and appeared in Medicine on September 11.

The tl;dr version of this post: We have questions.

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