Search Results for: nature

Author from China blames translation company for plagiarism in retracted vascular paper

Do we need a “throwing vendors under the bus” category here at Retraction Watch? Earlier this year, we reported on the retraction of a paper because of sloppy work by an outside lab. Now, we have the story of a retraction for “negligence” by a translator. Specifically, the author says the passages shared between the … Continue reading Author from China blames translation company for plagiarism in retracted vascular paper

Weekend reads: Aussie scientists bend rules; how to fix peer review once and for all; crazy structure alert

The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of 11 papers by a controversial researcher in Italy, and a look at the controversy over lead in the water supply. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Citation manipulation the last straw for modified rice straw paper

The Journal of Nanomaterials has retracted a paper on modified rice straw over citation manipulation. Rice straw, which makes up nearly half of the biomass in rice plants, is generally considered agricultural waste. However, in recent years scientists have discovered ways to modify the raw material to make it capable of absorbing heavy metal ions, making it … Continue reading Citation manipulation the last straw for modified rice straw paper

Controversial Italian scientist loses 11 papers from journal he used to edit

Alberto Carpinteri is something of a Renaissance man. Along with championing a highly controversial form of energy generation called “piezonuclear fission,” which involves crushing rocks, the engineer has argued that the Shroud of Turin really is as old as Jesus, but carbon dating was thrown off by an earthquake. Not everyone agrees with his ideas: In … Continue reading Controversial Italian scientist loses 11 papers from journal he used to edit

“Super-surgeon” Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct, per one Karolinska investigation

Surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who is under investigation for allegedly downplaying dangers of an experimental surgery, has been cleared of some misconduct allegations by the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Macchiarini, a thoracic surgeon, has made headlines for repairing damaged airways using tracheas from cadavers and even synthetic tracheas, both treated with the patients’ own stem cells to … Continue reading “Super-surgeon” Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct, per one Karolinska investigation

Lawsuit involving PubPeer unmasks commenter as pseudonymous whistleblower Clare Francis

An attorney for Fazlul Sarkar, the Wayne State University researcher who claims he lost a job offer because of comments about his research on PubPeer, has asked a judge to reconsider last month’s decision not to release information about the site’s anonymous commenters. As a consequence, the brief in support of that motion identifies a … Continue reading Lawsuit involving PubPeer unmasks commenter as pseudonymous whistleblower Clare Francis

Two more retractions bring lab break-in biochemist up to eleven

Karel Bezouška, the Czech biochemist who was caught on hidden camera breaking into a lab fridge to fake results, has turned it up to eleven with two new retractions. Both retractions appeared in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, one in October 2014 and one in January 2015.  His story began two decades ago in 1994, when he published … Continue reading Two more retractions bring lab break-in biochemist up to eleven

Study by deceased award-winning cancer researcher retracted because some patients were “invented”

A 2002 paper has been retracted by Cancer after some of the authors notified the journal that they hadn’t agreed to submit it — and an investigation found that a number of the patients described had been made up. Here’s the notice for “Radioimmunotherapy of small-volume disease of metastatic colorectal cancer: results of a phase II … Continue reading Study by deceased award-winning cancer researcher retracted because some patients were “invented”

Stats error has chilling effect on global warming paper

It turns out a 2014 paper that found a surprising pattern of plant migration in response to global warming was not so surprising after all — it’s been retracted by the authors due to a mistake in the statistical analysis. Most studies on migrating populations have found that species around the globe move north to escape the rising … Continue reading Stats error has chilling effect on global warming paper