Search Results for: medical

At least one-third of top science journals lack a retraction policy — a big improvement

More than one third — 35% — of the world’s top-ranked science journals that responded to a survey don’t have a retraction policy, according to a new study. And that’s a dramatic improvement over findings of a similar study a little more than a decade ago. For the new paper, “Retraction policies of top scientific … Continue reading At least one-third of top science journals lack a retraction policy — a big improvement

Weekend reads: What really happened in that lab?; best excuses for falsifying data and rejecting grants

The week at Retraction Watch featured the correction of a widely covered study claiming to find evidence of the plague and anthrax on New York City subways, and rulings against scientists suing Harvard, a journal, and the CBC. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Plague or anthrax on the subway? Think again, says now-corrected study

Authors of a widely covered study that documented traces of plague and anthrax on surfaces across New York City have revised the paper after public health officials challenged their interpretations of the data. It’s hard to overestimate the attention these findings received when first published. “Bubonic plague found in NYC subway,” wrote The Daily Beast. “Your … Continue reading Plague or anthrax on the subway? Think again, says now-corrected study

“Falsified” data shelve two more drug studies from discredited U Colorado student

The authors of a pair of papers in Molecular Pharmaceutics are retracting them following an investigation at the University of Colorado Denver, which found a graduate student had faked data. Rajendra Kadam was a prominent member of the Research lab of Uday B. Kompella, until the investigation revealed earlier this year that he had “falsified” data from a liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) machine … Continue reading “Falsified” data shelve two more drug studies from discredited U Colorado student

Weekend reads: Fame bias at journals; retractions as good news; hoarding data as bad news

This week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a widely covered paper on marriage and illness, and the resignation of a high-profile lab head in Toronto. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Head of major diagnostic lab in Canada steps down amid investigation

A prominent endocrinologist pathologist has resigned from running the largest hospital diagnostic laboratory in Canada following an investigation that has uncovered evidence of falsified data in two papers, Retraction Watch has learned. Sylvia Asa was the Program Medical Director of the Laboratory Medicine Program at the University Health Network, affiliated with the University of Toronto, until this past … Continue reading Head of major diagnostic lab in Canada steps down amid investigation

Author’s ties to NFL lead to correction for review that cast doubt on brain risk from sports

A review paper that suggested the degenerative brain disease that’s striking former football players may not be tied to contact sports has been corrected to reveal the first author spent decades working for the National Football League. The correction appears in a review in PLOS ONE about chronic traumatic encephalopathy – the degenerative brain disease that was the … Continue reading Author’s ties to NFL lead to correction for review that cast doubt on brain risk from sports

Data “mismatch” and author’s illness pluck bird sex-ratio study from literature

Inaccessible data and an author’s illness are to blame for the retraction of a paper on sex ratios of baby finches, according to the authors. The paper, “Experimental evidence that maternal corticosterone controls adaptive offspring sex ratios,” published in Functional Ecology, outlined how a hormone in mother finches can “skew” the number of males vs females that … Continue reading Data “mismatch” and author’s illness pluck bird sex-ratio study from literature

HIV vaccine researcher who confessed to fraud files appeal of 57-month prison sentence

Dong-Pyou Han, who was sentenced earlier this month to nearly five years in prison for faking the results of HIV vaccine experiments, has appealed the decision. According to Report on Research Compliance, which first reported the news, the appeal was filed on July 15. In addition to the prison sentence, Han had been ordered on … Continue reading HIV vaccine researcher who confessed to fraud files appeal of 57-month prison sentence

Half of anesthesiology fraudster’s papers continue to be cited years after retractions

In yet more evidence that retracted studies continue to accrue citations, a new paper has shown that nearly half of anesthesiologist Scott Reuben’s papers have been cited five years after being retracted, and only one-fourth of citations correctly note the retraction. According to the new paper, in Science and Engineering Ethics: