Search Results for: sting

Weekend reads: ‘Illegal practices in palaeontology’; ‘a fake badge of integrity’; researcher jailed

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 270. There are more than 36,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most … Continue reading Weekend reads: ‘Illegal practices in palaeontology’; ‘a fake badge of integrity’; researcher jailed

Another ‘Majorana’ particle paper retracted, this time from Science

Nearly a year after marking a paper on the elusive “Majorana” particle with an expression of concern, and almost three years after publishing a critique of its reproducibility, Science has retracted the article due to “serious irregularities and discrepancies” in the data.  A few papers about Majorana particles, which would be useful in quantum computing … Continue reading Another ‘Majorana’ particle paper retracted, this time from Science

BMJ says it’s “an ongoing effort” to find articles by plagiarizing concussion researcher Paul McCrory

Weeks after the British Medical Journal corrected a press release about nine retractions and dozens of expressions of concern to mark articles by a prominent concussion expert, a spokesperson for the journal told us it’s still “an ongoing effort” to identify all the articles on which the expert is the sole author.  The concussion researcher, … Continue reading BMJ says it’s “an ongoing effort” to find articles by plagiarizing concussion researcher Paul McCrory

Journal editor in chief who published controversial Covid papers resigns

The editor in chief of the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT) has resigned with more than a year left of his term, according to an email announcing his move to colleagues.  In the email, first reproduced in Steve Kirsch’s Substack newsletter, the editor, Jose L. Domingo, cited “deep discrepancies” with the journal’s direction under … Continue reading Journal editor in chief who published controversial Covid papers resigns

Weekend reads: A whistleblower finds possible misconduct — again; embracing failure; radical transparency for journals

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 268. There are more than 36,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most … Continue reading Weekend reads: A whistleblower finds possible misconduct — again; embracing failure; radical transparency for journals

Author critical of study involving abortion hires lawyers after journal flags paper

The author of an article on unwanted pregnancies that has received an expression of concern for reasons that remain unclear says she has hired lawyers to defend herself against “defamation.”   Priscilla K. Coleman, a professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio – whose controversial work on the link … Continue reading Author critical of study involving abortion hires lawyers after journal flags paper

Pain researchers lose three papers after Cochrane group questioned data

A group of pain management researchers have had three of their papers retracted since September, after another group published a critique of their work earlier this year.  The critique, published in the journal Pain in April, found that ten studies led by physiatrist  Marco Monticone of the University of Cagliari in Italy may not be … Continue reading Pain researchers lose three papers after Cochrane group questioned data

Deceptive Academic Journals: An excerpt from The Predator Effect

Predatory journals — even the term is controversial — have been a vexing problem for many years, and have certainly been a subject of coverage at Retraction Watch and elsewhere. We’re pleased to present an excerpt a new book, The Predator Effect: Understanding the Past, Present and Future of Deceptive Academic Journals, by longtime publishing … Continue reading Deceptive Academic Journals: An excerpt from The Predator Effect

Exclusive: UCLA found a longtime researcher faked data – but made a strange mistake in its report

A few years ago, funding for the UCLA pathology lab where Janina Jiang had worked since 2010 was running out.  The head of the lab was grateful when another scientist offered to chip in $50,000 to keep Jiang on for six more months.  But some of the experiments Jiang – perhaps feeling that her job … Continue reading Exclusive: UCLA found a longtime researcher faked data – but made a strange mistake in its report

When editors confuse direct criticism with being impolite, science loses

In January 2022, motivated by our experience with eClinicalMedicine, we wrote about mishandling of published errors by journal editors. We had noticed that the methods used for the analysis of a cluster randomized trial published in the journal were invalid. Using a valid approach, we reanalyzed the raw data, which were shared with us by the … Continue reading When editors confuse direct criticism with being impolite, science loses