Biotech’s data supporting Alzheimer’s trials under scrutiny

A law firm known for filing shareholder suits says that data supporting a drug company’s plan for trials of its experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s disease show evidence of manipulation. Stock in the company, Cassava Biosciences, tumbled yesterday after the FDA posted material from the firm, Labaton Sucharow, and a top research integrity expert tells Retraction … Continue reading Biotech’s data supporting Alzheimer’s trials under scrutiny

Second time’s the charm: The author who requested a retraction twice

As Jason Isbell sings, doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do. But sometimes it’s even harder than it needs to be. Ask Cory Xian.  When Xian, a bone researcher at the University of South Australia, in Adelaide, and his colleagues found an error in their 2018 paper in the Journal of Bone … Continue reading Second time’s the charm: The author who requested a retraction twice

Paper from company claiming phototherapy could treat COVID-19 is retracted

A study that touted phototherapy as a way to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has been retracted after Elisabeth Bik noted a litany of concerns about the article, from duplications in the figures to the authors’ failure to disclose conflicts of interest.  The article, “Methylene blue photochemical treatment as a reliable SARS-CoV-2 plasma virus inactivation method … Continue reading Paper from company claiming phototherapy could treat COVID-19 is retracted

‘We apologize again for the inadvertent mistakes during the assembly of data due to our carelessness’

Last December, Elisabeth Bik notified journals about 45 articles by a researcher in China which struck her as suspicious. Within weeks, one of those journals — DNA and Cell Biology — had retracted the paper she’d flagged. That reassuringly brisk response appears to have been an anomaly in the case of Hua Tang, of Tianjin … Continue reading ‘We apologize again for the inadvertent mistakes during the assembly of data due to our carelessness’

Kentucky professor resigns ahead of vote that could have stripped him of tenure

A former endowed professor at the University of Kentucky has resigned from the faculty days before a committee at the institution was scheduled to vote on whether to fire him for misconduct, Retraction Watch has learned.  In 2018, the university began investigating Xianglin Shi, a toxicologist and cancer biologist who that year, as we reported … Continue reading Kentucky professor resigns ahead of vote that could have stripped him of tenure

Exclusive: Six years after a misconduct investigation, more than half of suspect papers remain unflagged

When the University of Colorado at Denver completed an investigation in 2015 into the work of a former faculty member, the school recommended that nine papers be corrected or retracted. But six years after the close of that investigation, the researcher, urologist Hari Koul, has had just two papers retracted and one corrected.  Multiple journal … Continue reading Exclusive: Six years after a misconduct investigation, more than half of suspect papers remain unflagged

On the perils of scientific collaboration from thousands of miles away

Collaborations can be fraught. Ask David Ojcius.  Ojcius, an emeritus professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Merced, and a department chair at the University of the Pacific, is up to four retractions, five corrections and an expression of concern in papers he wrote with collaborators in China and elsewhere.  Ojcius … Continue reading On the perils of scientific collaboration from thousands of miles away

Editor declines to correct paper with duplicated image after earlier study disappears

Possession is nine-tenths of the law — at least, it seems, for one journal editor, who is refusing to retract a study despite learning that one of its images previously appeared in another journal. The reason? The other study has been removed from the web.  The paper is among 40 articles in Construction and Building … Continue reading Editor declines to correct paper with duplicated image after earlier study disappears

“[N]o intention to make any scientific fraud” as researchers lose four papers

Researchers in India have lost four papers in journals belonging to the Royal Society of Chemistry over concerns that the images in the articles appear to have been doctored.  The senior author on the articles is  Pralay Maiti, of the School of Material Science & Technology at Banaras Hindu University, in Varanasi.  “Polycaprolactone composites with … Continue reading “[N]o intention to make any scientific fraud” as researchers lose four papers

Weekend reads: Faked data in psychology; publishing in predatory journals = misconduct?; how scientists take criticism

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Seven barred from research after plagiarism, duplications in eleven papers … Continue reading Weekend reads: Faked data in psychology; publishing in predatory journals = misconduct?; how scientists take criticism