Nature retracts highly cited 2002 paper that claimed adult stem cells could become any type of cell

Nature has retracted a 2002 paper from the lab of Catherine Verfaillie purporting to show a type of adult stem cell could, under certain circumstances, “contribute to most, if not all, somatic cell types.”  The retracted article, “Pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult marrow,” has been controversial since its publication. Still, it has … Continue reading Nature retracts highly cited 2002 paper that claimed adult stem cells could become any type of cell

Wiley journal retracts two papers it said were fine following criticism years ago

Two years after a journal told sleuths it wouldn’t retract flawed papers, it changed course and pulled them.   Mark Bolland, a researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand who is no stranger to unearthing academic wrongdoing, first sent complaints about one of the papers to The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (IJGO)  … Continue reading Wiley journal retracts two papers it said were fine following criticism years ago

Brain tumor researchers lose second paper as UCSF investigates

A research group at the University of California, San Francisco, under investigation for potential misconduct has had a second paper retracted. The group, led by Russell O. Pieper, director of basic science at the UCSF Brain Tumor Center and vice-chairman of the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery, previously lost a 2021 paper in Science Translational … Continue reading Brain tumor researchers lose second paper as UCSF investigates

University vice president for research contests retraction for image issues

A university vice president has received his first retraction – and disagrees with it, according to the journal.  The retraction for Jaydutt Vadgama, the Vice President for Research and Health Affairs at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, comes after a commenter on PubPeer noted similarities between data in two papers from … Continue reading University vice president for research contests retraction for image issues

Norway university committee recommends probe into the country’s most productive researcher

In 2019, Filippo Berto was hailed as Norway’s most productive researcher, publishing a new study on average every two to three days.  Five years on, a committee appointed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), where Berto, a mechanical engineer, was based until last year, is recommending that the institution carries out an … Continue reading Norway university committee recommends probe into the country’s most productive researcher

Exclusive: Psychology researcher loses PhD after allegedly using husband in study and making up data

A psychology researcher already under fire for several questionable studies has had her PhD revoked by a university tribunal that found it likely she fabricated data in her thesis.  Ping Dong, who was a doctoral student at the University of Toronto from 2012 to 2017, had already earned retractions for two papers based on her … Continue reading Exclusive: Psychology researcher loses PhD after allegedly using husband in study and making up data

Send lawyers, Einstein and Maugham: Authors object to PLOS ONE retraction

Here’s a tale of a paper retracted because other articles published years later seemed to plagiarize it – and its unhappy authors, whose behavior the journal says hints at paper mill activity. On January 16 of this year, Maria Zalm, a senior editor at PLOS ONE and team manager for publication ethics, asked the authors … Continue reading Send lawyers, Einstein and Maugham: Authors object to PLOS ONE retraction

Exclusive: Wiley journal editor under investigation for duplicate publications

An academic editor at Wiley who vowed to “uphold publication ethics” is being investigated by the company for allegedly publishing three of his papers twice, in violation of journal policies, Retraction Watch has learned. One of the duplicates, which appeared last year in Nurse Education in Practice, an Elsevier title, has already been slated for … Continue reading Exclusive: Wiley journal editor under investigation for duplicate publications

High-profile ob-gyn accused of duplicating data threatens to sue critic

Sometime last summer, Ben Mol, an obstetrician-gynecology researcher in Australia, and his colleagues were adapting a European guideline on unexplained infertility when they came across a 2006 paper from Maria Luisa Casini, a pharmacologist in Rome, that gave them pause because of results that were not statistically significant.  When they looked further, they ended in … Continue reading High-profile ob-gyn accused of duplicating data threatens to sue critic

Cancer paper earns expression of concern nearly two years after investigation report is revealed

A Springer Nature journal has issued an expression of concern for a 16-year-old paper by Carlo Croce, the cancer researcher – and noted art collector – at The Ohio State University three years after the publication had received a correction for problematic images and roughly 20 months after the news division at Nature reported on … Continue reading Cancer paper earns expression of concern nearly two years after investigation report is revealed