Flood paper washed away after “oversight” leads to publication of wrong manuscript

The editor of the Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering has retracted a paper mapping flood zones in Iran because the authors mistakenly uploaded a manuscript that had already been published elsewhere. According to corresponding author Majid Bagheri of K.N. Toosi University of Technology in Tehran, a different paper on wastewater treatment was accepted and peer-reviewed … Continue reading Flood paper washed away after “oversight” leads to publication of wrong manuscript

Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study saga continues; Elsevier policy sparks concern; a string of scandals

As might have been expected, continuing developments in the Michael LaCour gay canvassing study retraction have drowned out coverage of stories that ordinarily might capture a lot of attention, such as fake case reports making their way into CDC data. A sampling: Berkeley graduate student David Broockman, one of the people whose critique brought down … Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study saga continues; Elsevier policy sparks concern; a string of scandals

Oregon public health employee faked 56 infection case reports: ORI

A former employee in the public health division of the Oregon Health Authority committed misconduct in 56 case reports about Clostridium difficile infections in Klamath County, Oregon, as well as in a manuscript submitted to JAMA Internal Medicine and a published report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in March, 2012. Ryan Asherin, previously … Continue reading Oregon public health employee faked 56 infection case reports: ORI

Brain paper retracted after university report finds “substantial data misrepresentation”

The Journal of Neuroscience is retracting a 2012 paper on how estrogen produced in the brain shapes the auditory system on the basis of “a report from Northwestern University that describes substantial data misrepresentation” in the paper. The paper, “Mechanistic Basis and Functional Roles of Long-Term Plasticity in Auditory Neurons Induced by a Brain-Generated Estrogen,” … Continue reading Brain paper retracted after university report finds “substantial data misrepresentation”

Should the chocolate-diet sting study be retracted? And why the coverage doesn’t surprise a news watchdog

Note: This story has been updated to include the journal’s response. See below. Yesterday, John Bohannon described in i09.com how he successfully”created” health news — he conducted a flawed trial of the health benefits of chocolate, gamed the data to produce statistically significant results, and published the findings in the International Archives of Medicine: It was terrible science. … Continue reading Should the chocolate-diet sting study be retracted? And why the coverage doesn’t surprise a news watchdog

Misconduct found in 7 papers by Macchiarini, says English write-up of investigation

The Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has released an English translation of an external review that found Paolo Macchiarini, a celebrated surgeon who is credited with creating tracheas from cadavers and patients’ own stem cells, committed misconduct in a series of papers describing the work. You can read the entire report, news of which was first … Continue reading Misconduct found in 7 papers by Macchiarini, says English write-up of investigation

Bully for you! Duplication earns demerit for school cruelty paper

Archives of Trauma Research has retracted a 2014 paper on bullying by a group in Iran who appear to have been double-fisted in their approach to publishing. The article, “Epidemiological Pattern of Bullying Among School Children in Mazandaran Province, Iran,” was written by researchers from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran. Its conclusions: … Continue reading Bully for you! Duplication earns demerit for school cruelty paper

Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?

As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2:

What should an ideal retraction notice look like?

Have you seen our “unhelpful retraction notices” category, a motley collection of vague, misleading, and even information-free entries? We’d like to make it obsolete, and we need our readers’ help. Here’s what we mean: Next month, Ivan will be traveling to Rio to take part in the World Conference on Research Integrity. One of his … Continue reading What should an ideal retraction notice look like?

ORI-sanctioned former UT-Southwestern cancer researchers up to 10 retractions

There’s been a 10th retraction from two former postdocs at a UT-Southwestern cancer research center who were sanctioned by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) last September, in part due to observations and comments from Retraction Watch readers. It’s a 2008 Cancer Letters paper, “Methylation of apoptosis related genes in the pathogenesis and prognosis of … Continue reading ORI-sanctioned former UT-Southwestern cancer researchers up to 10 retractions