Weekend reads: One researcher resents “cyberbullying” while another wishes peer reviewers would spank him

Another busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s what was going on around the web in scientific publishing and related issues: “The part of our paper that I [Conley] regret is our crazy biological interpretation. I don’t know what I was thinking or why reviewers didn’t spank me on that…” A wonderfully honest quote from a … Continue reading Weekend reads: One researcher resents “cyberbullying” while another wishes peer reviewers would spank him

Science hasn’t retracted paper that university, NSF investigators wanted withdrawn

On Saturday, we highlighted a great two-part series by Joseph Neff of the News & Observer diving into the story of “Stefan Franzen, a chemistry professor at North Carolina State University who has been trying unsuccessfully to correct the scientific record.” Today, that series became a three-part series, with a new story revealing that an … Continue reading Science hasn’t retracted paper that university, NSF investigators wanted withdrawn

Film review by noted critic a rerun, retracted

Many devotees of French film consider Jean Renoir’s 1939 La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game) to be the best example of the genre, and indeed of movie making writ large. Bad cut alert: One of the rules of the publishing game is, “ne pas plagier,” which we don’t think we need to … Continue reading Film review by noted critic a rerun, retracted

Journal reveals real reason for retraction of paper by author who threatened to sue Retraction Watch

Last week, we reported on the retraction of a paper by Benjamin Jacob Hayempour, a researcher who had threatened to sue us last month for even reporting on another of his retractions. The journal, Cureus, told us at the time that the retraction — in which the article disappeared, without a notice — didn’t have … Continue reading Journal reveals real reason for retraction of paper by author who threatened to sue Retraction Watch

Quickest withdrawal ever? Journal yanks paper alleging 800K deaths from Poldermans affair

Just 48 hours after publishing an article by Graham Cole and Darrel Francis last week alleging that Don Poldermans‘ scientific misconduct led to the deaths of some 800,000 Europeans over the past five years by tainting clinical guidelines, the European Heart Journal unceremoniously pulled the paper from its website Friday. Larry Husten at CardioBrief has … Continue reading Quickest withdrawal ever? Journal yanks paper alleging 800K deaths from Poldermans affair

Weekend reads: Fraudster calls himself a “foolish coward,” and COPE’s top cases

Here’s some of what crossed our desks this week: Dong Pyou Han, the former Iowa State University researcher who admitted faking the results of an HIV vaccine experiment, called himself a “foolish coward,” The Des Moines Register reported based on documents obtained from the university. Reporter Tony Leys also explored whether Han should be criminally … Continue reading Weekend reads: Fraudster calls himself a “foolish coward,” and COPE’s top cases

“Climate skeptic” journal shuttered following “malpractice” in “nepotistic” reviewer selections

The publisher of a journal apparently favored by climate change skeptics has shuttered it, saying that the editors changed the aim of the title and committed malpractice by using a peer reviewer selection process based on nepotism. Here’s the notice:

Journal editor defends retraction of GMO-rats study while authors reveal some of paper’s history

The debate over the retraction of a highly controversial paper on the effects of GMOs on rats continues unabated. This week, Adriane Fugh-Berman and Thomas Sherman wrote on the Hastings Center website that

Karel Bezouška, who broke into lab to tamper with investigation, has JACS paper retracted

Karel Bezouška, who, as we noted last year “broke into a lab refrigerator so he could tamper with samples being used to try to replicate the experiments during the investigation,” has had his fourth paper retracted. Here’s the notice, for “Synthesis of Multivalent Glycoconjugates Containing the Immunoactive LELTE Peptide: Effect of Glycosylation on Cellular Activation … Continue reading Karel Bezouška, who broke into lab to tamper with investigation, has JACS paper retracted