Fake peer review fells two more papers

The number of papers retracted for fake peer reviews — well in excess of 100, by our count — continues to grow. The latest to join the list are “Rebamipide plus proton pump inhibitor versus proton pump inhibitor alone in treatment of endoscopic submucosal dissection-induced gastric ulcer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials” and “Association … Continue reading Fake peer review fells two more papers

Elsevier retracting 16 papers for faked peer review

Fake peer reviews: They’re all the rage. Sixteen papers are being retracted across three Elsevier journals after the publisher discovered that one of the authors, Khalid Zaman, orchestrated fake peer reviews by submitting false contact information for his suggested reviewers. This particular kind of scam has been haunting online peer review for a few years now, as loyal Retraction … Continue reading Elsevier retracting 16 papers for faked peer review

Are companies selling fake peer reviews to help papers get published?

Faked peer reviews — a subject about which we’ve been writing more and more recently — are concerning enough to a number of publishers that they’ve approached the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to work together on a solution. In the past, we have reported on a number of cases in which authors were able … Continue reading Are companies selling fake peer reviews to help papers get published?

Publisher discovers 50 manuscripts involving fake peer reviewers

BioMed Central has uncovered about fifty manuscripts in their editorial system that involved fake peer reviewers, Retraction Watch has learned. Most of the cases were not published because they were discovered by a manuscript editor on a final pre-publication check. The five or so that have been published will go through some sort of re-review, … Continue reading Publisher discovers 50 manuscripts involving fake peer reviewers

Updated: Former Vanderbilt scientist faked nearly 70 images, will retract 6 papers: ORI

A former Vanderbilt University biomedical engineer committed fraud on a massive scale, according to a new Office of Research Integrity (ORI) report. Igor Dzhura is banned from receiving federal funding for three years, and is retracting six papers, which have been cited more than 500 times. Since leaving Vanderbilt, he has worked at SUNY Upstate … Continue reading Updated: Former Vanderbilt scientist faked nearly 70 images, will retract 6 papers: ORI

Fake citations plague some Google Scholar profiles

Last week, microbiologist Enrico Bucci emailed us with concerns that several of the citations listed on his Google Scholar profile were fake. Colleagues of his had noticed the same problem on their pages. The listings seem to be real titles, researchers, and publications, but scrambled. When Bucci first spoke with us, the Scholar citations all … Continue reading Fake citations plague some Google Scholar profiles

Serial figure fakers have expression of concern upgraded to a retraction

Another retraction has appeared up for frequent fliers Jun Li, Kailun Zhang and Jiahong Xia at Huazhong Science and Technology University in Wuhan, China. We’ve covered them twice before, for a variety of retractions, corrections, and expressions of concern. The retraction, in Clinical and Experimental Immunology, upgrades an expression of concern published earlier this year, and is … Continue reading Serial figure fakers have expression of concern upgraded to a retraction

Accounting professor faked data for two studies, destroyed evidence: University report

The Bentley University accounting professor whose retraction we first reported on in November 2012 fabricated the data behind two papers, a university investigation has concluded. James E. Hunton, who resigned in December 2012:

Faked figure sinks paper on potential new MRI contrast agent

Surface chemistry journal Langmuir has retracted an article on a new MRI contrast agent — but only one of the authors agreed. According to the notice:

Journal retracts letter accusing physicist of using fake names to criticize papers

From the world of physics, we have a retraction involving rivalry and alleged sock puppetry. The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology has removed a letter from its website after a scientist complained that it was making unproven allegations against him. It’s a head-scratching case. The letter, from Lorenzo Iorio, first appeared … Continue reading Journal retracts letter accusing physicist of using fake names to criticize papers