Search Results for: nature

Food fight: Animal nutrition author disputes two retractions

A pair of animal nutrition researchers in India have now had a second paper on the nutritional value of a fungal treatment for wheat straw retracted, and one of the authors is very unhappy about it. M.S. Mahesh of the National Dairy Research Institute at Deemed University claims a co-author issued “abusive letters” to an editor of the journal where the first … Continue reading Food fight: Animal nutrition author disputes two retractions

Weekend reads: Duplication rampant in cancer research?; meet the data detective; journals behaving badly

This week saw us profiled in The New York Times and de Volkskrant, and the introduction of our new staff writer. We also launched The Retraction Watch Leaderboard. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

“If you think it’s rude to ask to look at your co-authors’ data, you’re not doing science”: Guest post

Last month, the community was shaken when a major study on gay marriage in Science was retracted following questions on its funding, data, and methodology. The senior author, Donald Green, made it clear he was not privy to many details of the paper — which raised some questions for C. K. Gunsalus, director of the National … Continue reading “If you think it’s rude to ask to look at your co-authors’ data, you’re not doing science”: Guest post

High-profile aging paper posts old erratum, requested by author more than one year prior

Genome Biology has partially retracted a high-profile paper about an epigenetic biomarker of aging – a year and a half after the author alerted the journal to a software coding error that invalidated one of its findings. The paper, “DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types,” garnered some media coverage and forms the basis … Continue reading High-profile aging paper posts old erratum, requested by author more than one year prior

Weekend reads: Sexism from a Nobel laureate; publisher deception; irreproducibility’s price tag

The week at Retraction Watch featured the story behind a Nature retraction, and the retraction of a paper by a pioneer in the field of exosome research. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Exosome pioneer’s paper retracted after investigation finds “multiple” faked figures

The Journal of Immunology is retracting a 2006 article about the role of exosomes in pregnancy at the behest of the University of Louisville in Kentucky, following a misconduct investigation that “determined multiple figures” in the paper were falsified. First author Douglas Taylor is a pioneer in exosome biology, having discovered the release of exosomes from tumor … Continue reading Exosome pioneer’s paper retracted after investigation finds “multiple” faked figures

Weekend reads: Honorary authorship demands, fetishizing metrics, does media attention drive research agenda?

The week at Retraction Watch featured a marriage proposal tucked into a paper’s acknowledgements section, the retraction of a controversial Science advice column, and The New York Times pushing for more focus and funding on research misconduct. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

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: