Following criticism from scientists around the world, a virology journal has retracted a paper describing the first test in humans of an Iran-made vaccine against COVID-19. Iran licensed the home-grown Noora vaccine for emergency use in 2022 and has reportedly administered millions of doses to its citizens. The country’s health authorities say the shot is … Continue reading Iran COVID-vaccine paper with ‘serious flaws’ retracted
A group of 10 members of the editorial board of BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth have resigned to protest the journal’s failure to respond to allegations of data fabrication. Last week, in an email obtained by Retraction Watch, the editors wrote to Tovah Aronin, the managing editor of the journal, regarding “concerns about the publication of … Continue reading Editorial board members resign from obstetrics journal to protest handling of allegations
An August 2023 report on research integrity by consulting firm KPMG, commissioned by an Australian government agency, contains a made-up reference, Retraction Watch has discovered. Reference 139 of the report, “International Research Integrity Policy Scan Final Report: Compilation of information about research integrity arrangements outside Australia,” reads: Gunsalus CK, Marcus AR, Oransky I, Stern JM. … Continue reading KPMG government report on research integrity makes up reference involving Retraction Watch founders
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400. There are more than 47,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains more than 250 titles. And have … Continue reading Weekend reads: Peak retraction?; another mass editorial board resignation; an autism paper retraction
A cardiologist in Pakistan has been selling coauthorship of his research papers to scientists, particularly medical students, who were not involved in the work, Retraction Watch has learned. Several of his articles were published after the journal learned of his underhand activities. Jahanzeb Malik, of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, publishes in a variety of … Continue reading Exclusive: Cardiologist in Pakistan continued publishing after journal shown evidence he was running a paper mill
A recent review article whose authors included two assistant professors at universities in the United States was written by a physician in India who is running a paper mill, Retraction Watch has learned. “Current Status and Emerging Trends in Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnostics” appeared last year in a special issue of Biosensors, an MDPI … Continue reading Exclusive: Physician in India who coauthored review with US profs is running a paper mill
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400. There are more than 47,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains more than 250 titles. And have … Continue reading Weekend reads: Cash for error detection; problems with MDPI papers; retractions in abortion science
A journal is retracting a paper on the purported harms of vaccines against COVID-19 written in part by authors who have had similar work retracted before. The article, “COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines: Lessons Learned from the Registrational Trials and Global Vaccination Campaign,” appeared late last month in Cureus, which used to be a stand-alone journal but … Continue reading Paper claiming ‘extensive’ harms of COVID-19 vaccines to be retracted
One of the most highly cited authors in engineering has continued publishing after his death more than a year ago. Jiří Jaromír Klemeš, a researcher at the Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic and a top editor at an Elsevier journal that has come under fire for author self-citation, is listed as a … Continue reading Highly cited scientist published dozens of papers after his death
A journal and publisher have retracted three papers about abortion, including one that has been used in court cases to support the suspension of FDA approval for mifepristone, aka an “abortion pill.” Sage, the publisher of Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, announced the retractions yesterday and posted a retraction notice covering the three articles. … Continue reading Papers used by judge to justify abortion pill suspension retracted