Weekend reads: Stapel as an object lesson, peer review’s flaws, and salami slicing
It’s been another busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s a sampling of scientific publishing and misconduct news from around the web:
Search Results for: doing the right thing
Two detailed retraction notices correct the cardiology record
Two American College of Cardiology conference abstracts published earlier this year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) have been retracted, one because the authors were actually measuring something other than what they reported, and the other because newer software invalidated the results. Here’s the notice for “Worsening of Pre-Existing Valvulopathy With … Continue reading Two detailed retraction notices correct the cardiology record
Data artifact claims two fruit fly papers from leading UK group — who offer model response
A team of researchers led by Daniel St. Johnston, director of the Gurdon Institute at Cambridge and a prominent developmental biologist in the UK, has lost a pair of articles after finding that their data were unreliable. But rather than “correct” the record with subsequent papers, they’ve withdrawn the problematic work. To our mind, this … Continue reading Data artifact claims two fruit fly papers from leading UK group — who offer model response
How is Elsevier promoting ethical publishing? A guest post
As Retraction Watch readers know, we cover Elsevier’s journals frequently, including a story just last week about their peer review system being hacked. And they’ve written about us, too. So we’re pleased to present a guest post by Elsevier’s Linda Lavelle, General Counsel-North America, about the publisher’s take on plagiarism and other unethical behavior — … Continue reading How is Elsevier promoting ethical publishing? A guest post
Sebastiani group retracts genetics of aging study from Science
When a group of researchers last year claimed to have found a “genetic signature” to identify people likely to live to 100, they were questioned immediately. Now they’ve retracted the controversial paper — but continue to stand behind their assertion. The paper had been the subject of an “Expression of Concern” in November. The retraction … Continue reading Sebastiani group retracts genetics of aging study from Science
Did Flint water crisis set kids back in school? Paper saying so is ‘severely flawed,’ say critics
A paper finding kids did worse in school following the Flint water crisis is “severely flawed and unreliable,” according to critics who were deeply involved in exposing the crisis. The paper has now earned an addendum from the authors, but the critics say it should be retracted. The authors of the article investigated whether the … Continue reading Did Flint water crisis set kids back in school? Paper saying so is ‘severely flawed,’ say critics
Wiley journal retracts two papers it said were fine following criticism years ago
Two years after a journal told sleuths it wouldn’t retract flawed papers, it changed course and pulled them. Mark Bolland, a researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand who is no stranger to unearthing academic wrongdoing, first sent complaints about one of the papers to The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (IJGO) … Continue reading Wiley journal retracts two papers it said were fine following criticism years ago
Give or take a year or two: Case reveals publishers’ vastly different retraction times
On March 1, 2022, Eric Ross, then a psychiatrist-in-training in Boston, alerted two major publishers to a pair of disturbingly similar papers he suspected had been “fabricated.” “The articles are written by the same corresponding author and contain much of the same unrealistic data,” Ross, now an assistant professor at the University of Vermont, in … Continue reading Give or take a year or two: Case reveals publishers’ vastly different retraction times
Papers and peer reviews with evidence of ChatGPT writing
Retraction Watch readers have likely heard about papers showing evidence that they were written by ChatGPT, including one that went viral. We and others have reported on the phenomenon. Here’s a list — relying on a search strategy developed by Guillaume Cabanac, who has been posting the results on PubPeer — of such papers that … Continue reading Papers and peer reviews with evidence of ChatGPT writing
Do some IQ data need a ‘public health warning?’ A paper based on a controversial psychologist’s data is retracted
A journal has retracted a controversial 2010 article on intelligence and infections that was based on data gathered decades ago by a now-deceased researcher who lost his emeritus status in 2018 after students said his work was racist and sexist. The article, “Parasite prevalence and the worldwide distribution of cognitive ability’, was published in Proceedings … Continue reading Do some IQ data need a ‘public health warning?’ A paper based on a controversial psychologist’s data is retracted