Weekend reads: How to publish in Nature; social media circumvents peer review; impatience leads to fakery

The week at Retraction Watch featured a look at why a fraudster’s papers continued to earn citations after he went to prison, and criticism of Science by hundreds of researchers. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Weekend reads: California universities battle in court for research dollars; fake conferences; fake impact factors

This week at Retraction Watch featured a look at the nuances of replication efforts, aka “the replication paradox,” as well as yet another story of fake peer reviews, this time at Hindawi. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

30+ papers flagged because editors may have “subverted the peer review process” with fake accounts

In what has become a familiar story, another publisher has found more than 30 papers that appear to have been accepted and published based on fake peer reviews. Hindawi, publisher of more than 400 journals, is having 32 papers re-reviewed after an investigation …identified three Editors who appear to have subverted the peer review process … Continue reading 30+ papers flagged because editors may have “subverted the peer review process” with fake accounts

Columbia biologists “deeply regret” Nature retraction, after postdoc faked 74 panels in 3 papers

A team of Columbia University biologists has retracted a 2013 Nature paper on the molecular pathways underlying Alzheimer’s disease, the second retraction from the group after a postdoc faked data. An April report from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) found the a first author, former Columbia postdoc Ryousuke Fujita, responsible for “knowingly and intentionally fabricating and falsifying research in seventy-four … Continue reading Columbia biologists “deeply regret” Nature retraction, after postdoc faked 74 panels in 3 papers

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

Oregon public health employee faked 56 infection case reports: ORI

A former employee in the public health division of the Oregon Health Authority committed misconduct in 56 case reports about Clostridium difficile infections in Klamath County, Oregon, as well as in a manuscript submitted to JAMA Internal Medicine and a published report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in March, 2012. Ryan Asherin, previously … Continue reading Oregon public health employee faked 56 infection case reports: ORI

Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught

This week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the Science same-sex marriage study, after we broke the news Wednesday morning that one of its authors had requested its retraction. (And crashed our servers in the process.) So the first section of this Weekend Reads will focus on pieces following up on that story: The New … Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught

Author retracts study of changing minds on same-sex marriage after colleague admits data were faked

In what can only be described as a remarkable and swift series of events, one of the authors of a much-ballyhooed Science paper claiming that short conversations could change people’s minds on same-sex marriage is retracting it following revelations that the data were faked by his co-author. [3:45 p.m. Eastern, 5/28/15: Please see an update … Continue reading Author retracts study of changing minds on same-sex marriage after colleague admits data were faked

BioMed Central retracting 43 papers for fake peer review

BioMed Central is retracting 43 papers, following their investigation into 50 papers that raised suspicions of fake peer review, possibly involving third-party companies selling the service. In November 2014 we wrote about fake peer reviews for Nature; at that point there had been about 110 retractions across several journals. The addition of 16 retractions by Elsevier for … Continue reading BioMed Central retracting 43 papers for fake peer review

Anyone want to hire an economist who retracted 16 papers for fake peer reviews?

In December, we reported that economist Khalid Zaman was losing 16 papers over faked peer reviews. Now, Retraction Watch has learned that he left his job at COMSATS Information Technology Center in Abbottabad, Pakistan on December 26, seven days after our post. He’s now looking for a new job, including at Beaconhouse National University in … Continue reading Anyone want to hire an economist who retracted 16 papers for fake peer reviews?