Search Results for: press release

Ecologists pull paper on how climate change affects moths after model mixup

Ecologists have retracted a paper published only months ago in Science Advances, after realizing that they had misinterpreted a climate model. The October paper examined the effects of climate change on populations of 155 species of British moths and butterflies. According to a press release from the authors’ institution, the University of York: Using data collected … Continue reading Ecologists pull paper on how climate change affects moths after model mixup

Weekend reads: Research parasite awards; money-back research guarantees; Sci-Hub takes over the world

This week at Retraction Watch featured a confession about research misconduct, and a debate over whether a paper should have been retracted. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: 

Physicists retract Nature paper on Earth’s core after findings aren’t reproducible

Physicists have retracted a highly cited paper from Nature on the behavior of electrons at the center of the Earth after other researchers could not reproduce their findings. The 2015 paper earned coverage in Science News and Live Science, where co-author Ronald Cohen explained: There was a big problem in how you generate a magnetic field, and now, because of our … Continue reading Physicists retract Nature paper on Earth’s core after findings aren’t reproducible

Paper on GI cancers linked to AIDS pulled for errors that upped tumor incidence

Gastroenterology has retracted a 2012 article on GI cancers associated with AIDS after the authors, from the National Cancer Institute, acknowledged that a “programming” error led them to overestimate the incidence of the tumors. The paper, “Increased Risk of Stomach and Esophageal Malignancies in People With AIDS,” received a significant amount of attention when it first … Continue reading Paper on GI cancers linked to AIDS pulled for errors that upped tumor incidence

Weekend reads: Calls for retraction a bad idea?; is scientific fraud a crime?

This week at Retraction Watch featured an unusual excuse for missing data, and a guilty plea in court for misconduct. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Neuroscientist pleads guilty in court to fraud, gets two-year suspended sentence

A Parkinson’s researcher pleaded guilty to fraud in court this morning in Brisbane, Australia, and received a two-year suspended sentence. Court sentences for fraud are rare, to say the least. This one follows an investigation by Bruce Murdoch‘s former employer, the University of Queensland, into 92 papers — resulting in the retraction of three papers co-authored by Caroline Barwood, … Continue reading Neuroscientist pleads guilty in court to fraud, gets two-year suspended sentence

“A big mistake:” Paper about the dangers of Wi-Fi pulled for plagiarism

A report that presents guidelines for treating people allegedly harmed by signals from Wi-Fi and mobile phones was pulled two weeks after publication for plagiarism. However, the retraction note, published in the March issue of Reviews on Environmental Health, doesn’t use the word “plagiarism,” and instead blames the move on lost citations and errors. The editor of the journal, David Carpenter, told us … Continue reading “A big mistake:” Paper about the dangers of Wi-Fi pulled for plagiarism

Let’s not mischaracterize replication studies: authors

Scientists have been abuzz over a report in last week’s Science questioning the results of a recent landmark effort to replicate 100 published studies in top psychology journals. The critique of this effort – which suggested the authors couldn’t replicate most of the research because they didn’t adhere closely enough to the original studies – … Continue reading Let’s not mischaracterize replication studies: authors

Stem cell researcher in Spain dismissed following investigation

A promising early career researcher has been dismissed from her post at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Spain, following “an alleged ongoing fraud,” according to El Pais. We don’t know what exactly the internal investigation into Susana González’s work found; El Pais relied on anonymous sources, and the CNIC confirmed only that they dismissed her on February 29th. … Continue reading Stem cell researcher in Spain dismissed following investigation

We’re using a common statistical test all wrong. Statisticians want to fix that.

After reading too many papers that either are not reproducible or contain statistical errors (or both), the American Statistical Association (ASA) has been roused to action. Today the group released six principles for the use and interpretation of p values. P-values are used to search for differences between groups or treatments, to evaluate relationships between … Continue reading We’re using a common statistical test all wrong. Statisticians want to fix that.