Search Results for: climate

Chief specialty editor resigns from Frontiers in wake of controversial retraction

An editor at a Frontiers journal has resigned to protest the publisher’s decision to retract the controversial “Recursive Fury” paper that linked climate skepticism to conspiratorial ideation. Ugo Bardi was chief specialty editor of Frontiers in Energy Research: Energy Systems and Policy. He writes on his blog: …my opinion is that, with their latest statement … Continue reading Chief specialty editor resigns from Frontiers in wake of controversial retraction

Want to make sure your paper gets published? Just do your own peer review like this researcher did

We’ve reported on some pretty impressive cases of researchers doing their own peer review, one of which led to 28 retractions. We have another. Yongdeng Lei, of the School of Geography and Remote Sensing Science at Beijing Normal University, pulled the wool over the eyes of two Springer journals. Here’s the notice from Environmental Management … Continue reading Want to make sure your paper gets published? Just do your own peer review like this researcher did

Where’s the line between scientific post-publication peer review critiques and libel?

One of the issues that comes up frequently when we’re moderating comments here on Retraction Watch is the distinction between “I think these images look strange” and “this researcher committed fraud.” That’s a pretty important distinction, because potentially actionable cases of libel live somewhere in between, probably closer to the latter — as Paul Brookes … Continue reading Where’s the line between scientific post-publication peer review critiques and libel?

Doing the right thing: Yale psychology lab retracts monkey papers for inaccurate coding

In the midst of the holiday season, it’s a pleasure to be able to share the story of a scientist doing the right thing at significant professional cost — especially a researcher in psychology, a field that has been battered lately by scandal. Sometime after publishing two papers — one in Developmental Science and another … Continue reading Doing the right thing: Yale psychology lab retracts monkey papers for inaccurate coding

Ants in the past: Journal pulls insect-global warming paper after questions arise over results

A group of ecologists in Germany who published a paper on the potential impact of global warming on ants in the Harz Mountains — northern Germany’s highest range — have retracted the paper after becoming, well, a bit antsy about the validity of their findings. The article, “Diversity of ants across an altitudinal gradient in … Continue reading Ants in the past: Journal pulls insect-global warming paper after questions arise over results

Why publishers should explain why papers disappear: The complicated Lewandowsky study saga

Last year, Stephan Lewandowsky and colleagues posted a paper, scheduled for an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, with a, shall we say, provocative title: NASA Faked the Moon Landing—Therefore, (Climate) Science Is a Hoax An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science In an interview last year with Lewandowsky, NPR gathered some of the reactions … Continue reading Why publishers should explain why papers disappear: The complicated Lewandowsky study saga

Two Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Advances retractions, for unreliable results, surprised author

Authors of two separate studies in RSC Advances — RSC is the Royal Society of Chemistry — have retracted their papers. Here’s one notice, for “Laser-induced gold/chitosan nanocomposites with tailored wettability applied to multi-irradiated microfluidic channels:”

Feminist studies journal retracts paper after post-acceptance editing dispute

The journal Feminist Legal Studies has retracted a paper by a controversial Canadian scholar, Sunera Thobani, after the researcher evidently disagreed with post-acceptance edits. Thobani, of the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia, became a figure of some international repute for statements in the aftermath of the September 11, … Continue reading Feminist studies journal retracts paper after post-acceptance editing dispute

Does focusing on wrongdoing in research feed mistrust of science?

There have been a number of thoughtful stories and opinion pieces on scientific fraud recently. There was Brian Deer in the Sunday Times of London last month. Paul Jump, at the Times Higher Education, later that month looked at the lessons of one particular case. Alok Jha, of the Guardian, took on the issue last … Continue reading Does focusing on wrongdoing in research feed mistrust of science?