At the beginning of February 2023, I discovered that the Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems (SJIS) had been hijacked. As editor-in-chief of the publication, I had been contacted by an author confused by receiving both an acceptance letter and a desk rejection for her manuscript. I had rejected the paper because it did not align … Continue reading My journal was hijacked: an editor’s experience
Didier Raoult, the French infectious disease scientist who came to prominence for promoting hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, has lost two papers for ethics concerns after other scientists flagged issues with hundreds of publications from the institute he formerly led. Both papers, “Increased Gut Redox and Depletion of Anaerobic and Methanogenic Prokaryotes in Severe Acute … Continue reading Controversial French researcher loses two papers for ethics approval issues
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: We also added The Retraction Watch Mass Resignations List. Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to well over 350. There are more than 43,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. … Continue reading Weekend reads: ‘The band of debunkers’; a superconductor retraction request; ‘the banality of bad-faith science’
In 2023 alone, editors of eight journals on topics ranging from mathematics to biogeography all quit at once because of disputes with their publishing companies. Mass resignations of editors from scholarly journals aren’t new – the Open Access Directory has a list of some such actions going back to 1989. But the frequency appears to … Continue reading The Retraction Watch Mass Resignations List
A prominent physician-scientist in South Korea may soon be facing his fourth retraction. Last month, Hui-Nam Pak of Yonsei University was found guilty of duplicate publication, a form of academic misconduct, according to a report from the school’s committee on research integrity Retraction Watch has obtained. Pak, a cardiologist, has had dozens of papers flagged … Continue reading Exclusive: Probe suggests new retraction awaiting embattled Korean heart doctor
For the past eight years, an education researcher in Spain has been waging an unsuccessful battle – including legal action – to quash a retraction she argues should never have happened. Her paper, about the use of digital tools in early childhood education, was pulled by Computers & Education just months after it was published … Continue reading Overturning a dubious retraction proves difficult for education professor
The publisher Frontiers has retracted nearly 40 papers across multiple journals linked to “the unethical practice of buying or selling authorship on research papers,” according to a press release posted to a company website Monday. The release also states Frontiers is adopting new policies to prevent the sale of authorships on papers it publishes. The … Continue reading Frontiers retracts nearly 40 papers linked to ‘authorship-for-sale’
Elsevier journals are retracting eight studies after learning that one of the authors on the papers was “fictitious” – as in a similar case we reported on recently. The ostensible author, Toshiyuki Bangi, was listed as affiliated with the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The eight studies, which … Continue reading Eight papers retracted after author found to be fictional
A professor at the University of Pittsburgh is suing the institution and two administrators, alleging they discriminated against him because he is Black. The researcher, Moses Bility, an assistant professor of infectious diseases and microbiology in the university’s School of Public Health, alleges the school’s response to a 2020 paper he published and later withdrew … Continue reading Author of paper on COVID-19 and jade amulets sues employer for ‘mental anguish,’ discrimination
Two-thirds of the associate editors of the Journal of Biogeography, a Wiley title, have resigned in a dispute with the publisher, and more resignations are likely, according to those involved. Most of the resignations, reported first by Times Higher Education, were effective immediately, but a portion of the associate editors set August 28 as their … Continue reading Wiley journal editors resign en masse, fired chief editor speaks