Search Results for: fraud

Another unofficial record? Authors walk back arcane blue crab paper — 15 years later

If a paper that has never been cited is retracted, will it be missed? Japanese researchers have retracted an obscure 1996 article in an equally obscure physics journal after concluding — some 15 years later — that their fundamental assertion was mistaken. The paper, “Uptake and excretion of cobalt in the crustacean Portunus trituberculatus,” in  … Continue reading Another unofficial record? Authors walk back arcane blue crab paper — 15 years later

How journal editors can detect and deter scientific misconduct, part 2, from COPE’s Liz Wager

Last week, we shared Ivan’s presentation on how journal editors can detect and deter misconduct from the annual Council of Science Editors meeting. This week, we’re pleased to share another presentation from that panel. This one is by Liz Wager, chair of the Committee on Publication Ethics. Wager’s name will be familiar to Retraction Watch … Continue reading How journal editors can detect and deter scientific misconduct, part 2, from COPE’s Liz Wager

Blood retracts two, including a disputed paper from the Karolinska Institute

The journal Blood has two retractions this month, one of which seems particularly interesting. So let’s deal with the other one first. The paper, “MicroRNAs 15a/16-1 function as tumor suppressor genes in multiple myeloma,” appeared online in October 2010. But according to the retraction notice, the authors have recently discovered that the cell lines used … Continue reading Blood retracts two, including a disputed paper from the Karolinska Institute

Traffic violations: Plagiarism leads to retraction of transit modeling paper

Journal editors like to believe they are more than mere traffic cops. But here’s a case that makes us wonder. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review — yes, there are parts A-D of this — is retracting a 2009 paper which stole liberally from a 1996 article in a different journal from the … Continue reading Traffic violations: Plagiarism leads to retraction of transit modeling paper

Roundup: A new record? And paper retracts story about Canadian Paxil researcher-turned pol Kutcher

We’ve both been at conferences — Adam at the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists in Savannah, and Ivan at the Council of Science Editors in Baltimore, where he’ll be on a panel today about finding fraud — so we haven’t had a lot of time to run down retractions. But there were a few retraction-related developments … Continue reading Roundup: A new record? And paper retracts story about Canadian Paxil researcher-turned pol Kutcher

Physics Letters A paper gets retracted twice, but the issues remain “unsettled”

A retraction with a complex and yet unclear narrative appears in the April 25, 2011 issue of Physics Letters A. According to the notice, for “Nuclear spin magnetic resonance force microscopy using slice modulation:” This article has been retracted at the request of the Editors of Physics Letters A because there are unsettled issues on … Continue reading Physics Letters A paper gets retracted twice, but the issues remain “unsettled”

Want to avoid a retraction? Hire a medical writer, say medical writers

A team of Australian medical writers who  analyzed four decades worth of retractions has reached the conclusion — we trust you’re sitting — that people in their profession are more honest than, well, the rest of us. According to the authors,  articles in the medical literature are substantially less likely than other papers to be … Continue reading Want to avoid a retraction? Hire a medical writer, say medical writers

Why was that paper retracted? Peer-reviewed evidence that Retraction Watch isn’t crazy

Retraction Watch readers will no doubt have realized by now that we are often frustrated by the opacity of many of the retraction notices we cover. And some critics may wonder if we’re overstating that case. Well, wonder no more. In a study published online yesterday in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Liz Wager and … Continue reading Why was that paper retracted? Peer-reviewed evidence that Retraction Watch isn’t crazy

Stanford group retracts JACS paper, but revisits and validates findings

A prominent Stanford University chemistry lab has been forced to retract a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). According to the retraction notice: Due to inconsistencies between some of the assigned structures and the experimental data that appear in the paper, the authors retract this publication. We regret very much this … Continue reading Stanford group retracts JACS paper, but revisits and validates findings

Another Cell retraction, and more questions than answers

A new retraction has appeared in the journal Cell. The article, “DNA-PKcs-PIDDosome: A Nuclear Caspase-2-Activating Complex with Role in G2/M Checkpoint Maintenance,” had initially appeared in February 2009. According to the notice: