Alleged faked heart tests “might affect inclusion of data” in study led by UCSF

We have an update on the case of Parag Patel, the Park Ridge, Illinois cardiologist whom the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) said “engaged in research misconduct by directing or intimidating fellows and others to influence” test results so that patients would be eligible for a clinical trial. A spokesperson for the clinical trial’s sponsor, … Continue reading Alleged faked heart tests “might affect inclusion of data” in study led by UCSF

Punked 2.0: Indian engineer uses “My Cousin Vinny” to publish fake paper, expose “science” conference

A technology entrepreneur from Pune named Navin Kabra has pulled back the sheets on a local conference, the International Conference on Recent Innovations in Engineering, Science & Technology, by submitting two bogus manuscripts for presentation — both of which were accepted. Although the conference organizers were charging 6,000 rupees — about $100 — apiece for … Continue reading Punked 2.0: Indian engineer uses “My Cousin Vinny” to publish fake paper, expose “science” conference

Science reporter spoofs hundreds of open access journals with fake papers

Alan Sokal’s influence has certainly been felt strongly recently. Last month, a critique by Sokal — who in 1996 got a fake paper published in Social Text — and two colleagues forced a correction of a much-ballyhooed psychology paper.  A few days after that, we reported on a Serbian Sokal hoax-like paper whose authors cited the scholarly … Continue reading Science reporter spoofs hundreds of open access journals with fake papers

Elsevier editorial system hacked, reviews faked, 11 retractions follow

For several months now, we’ve been reporting on variations on a theme: Authors submitting fake email addresses for potential peer reviewers, to ensure positive reviews. In August, for example, we broke the story of a Hyung-In Moon, who has now retracted 24 papers published by Informa because he managed to do his own peer review. … Continue reading Elsevier editorial system hacked, reviews faked, 11 retractions follow

20 more retractions for scientist who made up email addresses so he could review his own papers

Hyung-In Moon, the South Korean plant compound researcher who came up with fake email addresses so that he could do his own peer review, has retracted twenty more papers, all in Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, an Informa Healthcare title. Here are the papers:

Elsevier parasitology journal retracts paper after finding author made up peer reviewer email addresses

Note to authors: If a journal asks you to suggest reviewers for your submitted manuscript, don’t thank them by faking the reviewer’s emails. You might just get caught. That’s what happened recently at Experimental Parasitology, according to the retraction notice for “Entamoeba histolytica: Cloning, expression and evaluation of the efficacy of a recombinant amebiasis cysteine … Continue reading Elsevier parasitology journal retracts paper after finding author made up peer reviewer email addresses

Hidden hydras: uncovering the massive footprint of one paper mill’s operations

At the heart of any paper mill’s operations sits an unavoidable contradiction. On the one hand, paper mills must keep their operations clandestine lest they be discovered and have their clients’ articles retracted en masse. On the other, paper mills must make themselves visible to some degree to attract new customers. For instance, advertisements for … Continue reading Hidden hydras: uncovering the massive footprint of one paper mill’s operations

Web of Science puts mega-journals Cureus and Heliyon on hold

Web of Science, Clarivate’s influential database of abstracts and citations, has paused indexation of new content from the open-access journals Heliyon and Cureus, apparently due to concerns about the quality of their articles. Indexation in WoS or Scopus, another major bibliometric database owned by Elsevier, has become an important stamp of approval for scholarly publications … Continue reading Web of Science puts mega-journals Cureus and Heliyon on hold