Pseudonymous sleuth Claire Francis has flagged thousands of papers over the years, so they rarely see something new. But an email from Frontiers about an upcoming retraction on a paper Francis originally flagged offered just that: The option to be acknowledged in the retraction notice. After years of publishers not routinely – or even often … Continue reading Noticed: Sleuths are starting to get credit for retractions
A lead researcher at UC Davis has lost three decades-old papers from the same journal for image duplication, and the journal says it is investigating more. Allen Gao, director of research for the Department of Urologic Surgery at the institution is first last and corresponding author on the papers, published in The Prostate. The journal … Continue reading UC Davis research director loses three papers for image manipulation
The International Wound Journal has retracted 242 papers so far this year as part of an ongoing investigation into manipulated peer review. We reported in December the journal, a Wiley title, had retracted 27 papers as part of an investigation. A Wiley spokesperson told us the 2025 retractions are part of the same ongoing investigation, … Continue reading Wiley journal retracts over 200 more papers
International Wound Journal, a Wiley title, has retracted 27 papers since June with notices mentioning “manipulated” or “compromised” peer review. “A comprehensive investigation examining manipulated peer review in this journal is in progress,” a Wiley spokesperson told Retraction Watch. The publisher anticipates retracting more articles as the investigation continues. The first retraction of the batch, … Continue reading Wiley medical journal retracts dozens of papers for manipulated peer review, with more to come
The Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, a Wiley title, has corrected a pair of retraction notices in which “the reasons for the retraction were described inaccurately,” according to the corrections. The original notices also did not include “the authors’ disapproval of the retraction.” The retracted articles, “The cardioprotective effects of a combination of quercetin … Continue reading Wiley corrects retraction notices for ‘inaccurate’ description of why articles were pulled
The University of Newcastle in Australia is investigating the work of two prominent skin cancer researchers, Retraction Watch has learned. Commenters on PubPeer have posted questions about the data in 42 papers by Peter Hersey and Xu Dong Zhang, both well-known in Australian melanoma research. So far, two of the papers have been retracted and … Continue reading University of Newcastle investigating top melanoma researchers
Some journal articles on the Taylor & Francis website now bear a pop-up notification stating the papers are “currently under investigation.” The publisher began adding the notices to articles such as this one in June, according to a spokesperson, as a way to inform readers about an ongoing investigation “so that they can exercise appropriate … Continue reading Publisher adds temporary online notifications to articles “under investigation”
Last July, David Allison and his students identified what they considered to be fatal errors in a paper that had appeared in Elsevier’s Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. The authors of the article, led by Sergio Di Molfetta, of University of Bari Aldo Moro in Bari, Italy, used a cluster randomized controlled trial, but did … Continue reading Editor and authors refuse to share data of paper containing alleged statistical errors
On March 1, 2022, Eric Ross, then a psychiatrist-in-training in Boston, alerted two major publishers to a pair of disturbingly similar papers he suspected had been “fabricated.” “The articles are written by the same corresponding author and contain much of the same unrealistic data,” Ross, now an assistant professor at the University of Vermont, in … Continue reading Give or take a year or two: Case reveals publishers’ vastly different retraction times
Researchers apparently don’t need to be real to publish in scientific journals. Take Nicholas Zafetti of Clemson University, in South Carolina, who has at least nine publications to his name. Or Giorgos Jimenez of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with 12 papers under his belt. Both identities seem to be bogus, according to Alexander Magazinov, a … Continue reading What’s in a name? Made-up authors are penning dozens of papers