22 papers by Joachim Boldt retracted, and 67 likely on the way

Self-plagiarism alert: A very similar version of this post is being published online in Anesthesiology News, where one of us (AM) is managing editor. Anesthesia & Analgesia has retracted 22 papers by Joachim Boldt, the discredited German anesthesiologist whose prolific career as a researcher has unraveled with stunning rapidity — and 67 more retractions are … Continue reading 22 papers by Joachim Boldt retracted, and 67 likely on the way

An unusual retraction: German defense minister zu Guttenberg loses doctorate over plagiarized thesis

When we cover plagiarism on Retraction Watch, particularly when it leads to retractions, we’re writing almost exclusively about science. But there’s a story about a retraction outside of the scientific literature that has been unfolding over the past week, and grabbing enough headlines, that we figured we should post something on it. It was Bremen … Continue reading An unusual retraction: German defense minister zu Guttenberg loses doctorate over plagiarized thesis

Korean ENT journal retracts 17 papers, citing ‘overlap’

The Korean Journal of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery has retracted 17 papers, with the common theme of ‘overlap’ — almost always a euphemism for plagiarism, whether self or otherwise. Published between 1993 and 2006, the articles came from a group of authors at the department of otolaryngology at Ajou University School of Medicine in Suwon, … Continue reading Korean ENT journal retracts 17 papers, citing ‘overlap’

University of East London “looking into” Jatinder Ahluwalia’s career

We’re continuing to follow the case of Jatinder Ahluwalia. As we reported on Tuesday, Ahluwalia was dismissed from graduate school at the University of Cambridge years before a University College London (UCL) investigation found had renumbered files to deceive a co-author, and had likely sabotaged his colleagues’ work while manipulating his solutions to improve how … Continue reading University of East London “looking into” Jatinder Ahluwalia’s career

Exclusive: Researcher found guilty of misconduct at UCL had been dismissed from Cambridge for data fabrication

Here at Retraction Watch, we’ve been following the case of Jatinder Ahluwalia with interest. You may recall that an investigation by University College London (UCL) found “beyond reasonable doubt” that Ahluwalia had renumbered files to deceive a co-author. UCL was also “highly confident” that Ahluwalia had messed with his solutions to make his results look … Continue reading Exclusive: Researcher found guilty of misconduct at UCL had been dismissed from Cambridge for data fabrication

Unglaublich! Boldt investigation may lead to more than 90 retractions

Self-plagiarism alert: A very similar version of this post is being published online in Anesthesiology News, where one of us (AM) is managing editor. Unglaublich is the German word for unbelievable, and it’s an apt description for the latest development in the case of Joachim Boldt. Boldt, a prominent German anesthesiologist, has been at the … Continue reading Unglaublich! Boldt investigation may lead to more than 90 retractions

We wrote what? Breast cancer paper falls to rogue author

Something was fishy at China Normal University. According to the journal Anti-Cancer Drugs, a 2010 paper by researchers at the Beijing school — “3,30′-Diindolylmethane negatively regulates Cdc25A and induces a G2/M arrest by modulation of microRNA21 in human breast cancer cells” — turned out to have suffered from an unfortunate anomaly. According to the retraction … Continue reading We wrote what? Breast cancer paper falls to rogue author

Remote Sensing pulls soil scattering paper lifted from earlier thesis

Remote Sensing has retracted an article whose author decided that a previously published thesis said it best—and decided not mention that inconvenient fact. The article, “Study of soil scattering coefficients in combination with diesel for a slightly rough surface in the cj band,” was published in late December 2009. The author was Alireza Taravat Najafabadi, … Continue reading Remote Sensing pulls soil scattering paper lifted from earlier thesis

Is scientific fraud on the rise?

As readers of this blog have no doubt sensed by now, the number of retractions per year seems to be on the rise. We feel that intuitively as we uncover more and more of them, but there are also data to suggest this is true. As if to demonstrate that, we’ve been trying to find … Continue reading Is scientific fraud on the rise?

ME-Coli: Germ paper retracted after mentor accuses authors of idea theft

Plagiarism can involve the theft of words, and we’ve covered plenty of such cases (like this one). But here’s a case of what appears to be more wholesale lifting of everything from ideas to assays. The Journal of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology (JMMB), a Karger title, has retracted an October 2010 paper, “Characterization of Methyltransferase … Continue reading ME-Coli: Germ paper retracted after mentor accuses authors of idea theft