Search Results for: author ban

“Obviously stolen” figure squashes mosquito paper in author’s second retraction

The Journal of Mosquito Research has retracted a paper because it contains a figure that “was obviously stolen” from another paper. The retracted paper’s first author Emtithal M. Abd El-Samiee is now up to two retractions, by our count. Last month, we reported on her fruit fly paper, felled by a faulty gene sequence. On the paper, she is listed as … Continue reading “Obviously stolen” figure squashes mosquito paper in author’s second retraction

Whistleblower released after being held for 4 days in Bangkok airport

A UK academic who’s lived in Thailand for decades has just been released from the Bangkok airport where he had been held for four days, the apparent result of his years-ago decision to expose a Thai official who had plagiarized his PhD thesis. A university investigation several years ago eventually found that Wyn Ellis was, indeed, correct: … Continue reading Whistleblower released after being held for 4 days in Bangkok airport

Weekend reads: Ghost authors proliferate; science goes to the movies; pricey grant fraud

The week at Retraction Watch featured the results of a massive replication study, yet another retraction for Diederik Stapel, and a messy situation at PLOS. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Sheep study pulled for issues with “the validity of data” and “attribution of authorship”

The Veterinary Journal has retracted a 2014 paper that found that sheep eat more when their food is supplemented with urea (yes, the same compound found in urine). The notice was published after a “complaint which raised serious concerns.” Here’s more from the notice:

“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Last month, the community was shaken when a major study on gay marriage in Science was retracted following questions on its funding, data, and methodology.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

Another “first author has accepted responsibility” retraction from immunity journal

Scientists have pulled their 2013 Infection and Immunity paper after a reader noticed duplicated data in three figures, and the first author was “unable to provide the original data used to construct the figures,” according to the journal’s editor-in-chief. According to the retraction note, “the first author has accepted responsibility for these anomalies” — similar to … Continue reading Another “first author has accepted responsibility” retraction from immunity journal

Déjà vu: JBC epigenetics paper is retracted, then largely re-published with fewer authors

A group of authors have withdrawn a 2011 Journal of Biological Chemistry paper, but then appear to have re-published almost the same paper a month later, only this time with just five of the original nine authors. The paper, “HDAC3-dependent reversible lysine acetylation of cardiac myosin heavy chain isoforms modulates their enzymatic and motor activity,” … Continue reading Déjà vu: JBC epigenetics paper is retracted, then largely re-published with fewer authors

Misconduct earns researcher a five-year ban on federal funding

A University of Minnesota former chemistry graduate student has been banned from receiving federal funding for five years based on “a preponderance of the evidence that the Respondent intentionally and knowingly engaged in research misconduct.” Venkata J. Reddy appears to have manipulated findings in one R01 grant application. In recent years, bans are less common than having … Continue reading Misconduct earns researcher a five-year ban on federal funding

Nature retracts epigenetics paper by author who lost two Science papers last year

Frank Sauer, formerly of the University of California, Riverside, has had a 2002 letter on epigenetics retracted from Nature due to “inappropriate image manipulation.” Sauer had two papers retracted from Science last year following a university investigation. Here’s the Nature notice for “Histone methylation by the Drosophila epigenetic transcriptional regulator Ash1:”

Authors retract PNAS Epstein-Barr virus paper for “anomalous and duplicated” figures

PNAS has retracted a paper on the cancer-causing Epstein-Barr virus just two months after publication, in a notice that fingers a now-former graduate student for manipulating figures. The paper tries to explain how Epstein-Barr virus blocks the immune system’s attempts to destroy it. According to the notice, the three “nonexperimentalist authors” – identified in the paper as two … Continue reading Authors retract PNAS Epstein-Barr virus paper for “anomalous and duplicated” figures