A researcher who posted on LinkedIn about a paper that plagiarized his work says he’s now the subject of an email campaign making false allegations about his articles. In July, we reported that Sasan Sadrizadeh, researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, had his work plagiarized in a now-retracted paper. “In what seems … Continue reading Researcher whose work was plagiarized haunted by impostor emails
A journal of the UK-based Biochemical Society is retracting 25 papers after finding “systematic manipulation of our peer-review and publication processes by multiple individuals,” according to a statement provided to Retraction Watch. The batch of retractions for Bioscience Reports is “the first time that we have issued this many retractions in one go for articles … Continue reading Exclusive: Biochemistry journal retracts 25 papers for ‘systematic manipulation’ of peer review
There once was a drug named Krebiozen; It came from below the horizon. It used to be said, by patients now dead, Now what do we put our reliance on? –Limerick attributed to University of Illinois president George Stoddard and University of Illinois provost Coleman Griffith, both of whom would lose their jobs over Krebiozen … Continue reading “Deceit, delusion, and a classic medical fraud”: An excerpt from a new book about a cancer treatment hoax
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of “What’s in a picture? The temptation of image manipulation,” in which I described the problem of image manipulation in biomedical research. Two decades later, much has changed. I am reassured by the heightened awareness of this issue and the numerous efforts to address it by … Continue reading What’s in a picture? Two decades of image manipulation awareness and action
In 2008, a group of researchers published a paper in Current Biology reporting on what they said was a lungless water-loving frog in Borneo. According to David Bickford, then of the National University of Singapore, and his colleagues, the Bornean flat-headed frog “breathed” the way most salamanders do: by absorbing oxygen through their skin or, … Continue reading ‘No animosity between us’: Lungless frog finding retracted after 16 years
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has corrected an article by a prize-winning chemist following a report by Retraction Watch his threat to sue a fellow scientist who had submitted a letter to the journal critiquing the paper. Chad Mirkin, director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University in Chicago, received one … Continue reading PNAS corrects article by Kavli prize winner who threatened to sue critic
What do fairytales and scientific papers have in common? Consider the story of Rumpelstiltskin. A poor miller tries to impress the king by claiming his daughter can spin straw into gold. The avaricious king locks up the girl and tells her to spin out the gold. She fails, until a goblin, Rumpelstiltskin, comes to her … Continue reading Science and the significant trend towards spin and fairytales
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400. There are more than 50,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains more than 250 titles. And have … Continue reading Weekend reads: Attending a predatory conference; zombie theories; difficult authors
A political scientist in Canada copied his postdoc’s work without credit in a paper, according to the retraction notice and a university inquiry report. The paper by Charles Conteh, a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, appeared in Sage’s Outlook on Agriculture in October 2023. It has one citation, according to Clarivate’s Web … Continue reading Exclusive: Prof plagiarized postdoc’s work in now-retracted paper, university found
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400. There are more than 49,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains more than 250 titles. And have … Continue reading Weekend reads: The world’s most cited cat; ‘Is peer review failing its peer review?’; Oxford prof accused of stealing research