A journal has issued an expression of concern for a federally-funded paper on Alzheimer’s disease after a sleuth on PubPeer noted potentially duplicated figures in the article. We shouldn’t forget to mention, as the paper did, that one of the authors – a prominent scientist who happens also to be a co-editor in chief of … Continue reading Company’s Alzheimer’s treatment study earns a flag
Every year in the days leading up to August 3 – our birthday – we find some time to review where we’ve been and where we’re going. We often start with the very first post we published on August 3, 2010. That post begins with a mention of Anil Potti – remember him? – and … Continue reading Happy 12th birthday, Retraction Watch: And what a year it was
In March, an editor at PLOS ONE noticed something odd among a stack of agriculture manuscripts he was handling. One author had submitted at least 40 manuscripts over a 10-month period, much more than expected from any one person. The editor told the ethics team at the journal about the anomaly, and they started an … Continue reading Exclusive: PLOS ONE to retract more than 100 papers for manipulated peer review
A chemistry database of crystal structures has marked nearly 1000 entries with expressions of concern after finding they were linked to articles identified as products of a paper mill. The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) added notes to 992 structures in its database, according to a notice posted to its website in May. And a crystallography … Continue reading Crystallography database flags nearly 1000 structures linked to a paper mill
The University of Wyoming has requested that journals retract 33 papers by a former associate dean and “highly cited researcher” at the institution. The news came just a week after we broke the story that heart researcher Jun Ren had been demoted following an earlier investigation. At the time, a university spokesperson told us that … Continue reading University’s story changes: It requested 33 retractions, not ‘several’
A university investigation found an emeritus professor had committed research misconduct after reviewing dozens of allegations, culminating in a recommendation to retract 10 papers and revoke his emeritus status. The Ohio State University investigated 20 manuscripts by the cancer research group of Samson Jacob after the university received allegations in 2017 of image manipulation stretching … Continue reading Exclusive: OSU investigation finds dishonesty and “permissive culture of data manipulation” in cancer research lab
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Papers in Scientific Reports – and their expressions of concern – raise questions 250th COVID-19 retraction is for faked ethics approval Papers in Croce case with “blatantly obvious” problems still aren’t retracted after misconduct investigation: … Continue reading Weekend reads: Harvard sued over retracted paper; ‘retraction with honor’; critiquing our fake peer review coverage
This week, Nature reported on two institutional reports that found scientists in Carlo Croce’s cancer research lab at The Ohio State University had committed research misconduct including plagiarism and data falsification. Another institutional investigation directed at Croce did not find he committed research misconduct but did identify problems with how he managed his lab, according … Continue reading Papers in Croce case with “blatantly obvious” problems still aren’t retracted after misconduct investigation: sleuth
A former associate dean for research at the University of Wyoming who was named as one of Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers for 2021 was sanctioned by the university years ago, Retraction Watch has learned. Jun Ren, who studies the heart and diabetes, left Wyoming sometime in 2019 or 2020, according to a press release noting … Continue reading Exclusive: Former associate dean and ‘highly cited researcher’ was demoted by university
A civil engineering researcher will soon have 12 retractions to his name after a data sleuth notified journals of issues with image reuse in the papers. Jorge de Brito, a professor at the University of Lisbon, has lost four papers in Construction and Building Materials, two in the Journal of Building Engineering, of which he … Continue reading Engineering researcher who cast blame on co-author will soon have 12 retractions