Exclusive: Professor in France blames alleged ghostwriter for plagiarism

A professor of interventional radiology in France pointed the finger at an alleged ghostwriter after he was caught plagiarizing large portions of text in a review article, Retraction Watch has learned. “After careful checking, I noticed that I am not the author of this paper despite my first authorship since it has been written by … Continue reading Exclusive: Professor in France blames alleged ghostwriter for plagiarism

‘Prompt and decisive’: Editor says obesity study will be retracted after critique

In February, David Allison came across a study with a familiar problem.  The authors of the study purported to show an educational program helped women lose weight, but they had not directly compared the treatment and control groups. Instead, they’d used a statistically invalid method to compare changes within the groups.  Allison, the dean at … Continue reading ‘Prompt and decisive’: Editor says obesity study will be retracted after critique

How thousands of invisible citations sneak into papers and make for fake metrics

In 2022, Guillaume Cabanac noticed something unusual: a study had attracted more than 100 citations in a short span of less than two months of being published.  Cabanac, a computer scientist at the University of Toulouse in France, initially flagged the study on PubPeer after it was highlighted by the Problematic Paper Screener, which automatically … Continue reading How thousands of invisible citations sneak into papers and make for fake metrics

Weekend reads: The strain on publishing; Gino defends herself; the rise of fake peer review retractions

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 The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to well over 350. There are more than 43,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains well over … Continue reading Weekend reads: The strain on publishing; Gino defends herself; the rise of fake peer review retractions

Nobel Prize winner Gregg Semenza tallies tenth retraction

It’s Nobel Prize week, and the work behind mRNA COVID-19 vaccines has just earned the physiology or medicine prize. But this is Retraction Watch, so that’s not what this post is about. A Nobel prize-winning researcher whose publications have come under scrutiny has retracted his 10th paper for issues with the data and images.  Gregg … Continue reading Nobel Prize winner Gregg Semenza tallies tenth retraction

One year later, bioinformatics journal with unclear leadership yet to retract plagiarized article

On Aug. 17, 2022, Nicki Tiffin received a notification that she had published a new study. The problem? She had never submitted an article to the journal in which the paper appeared.  A year later, despite efforts by Tiffin and others, the journal has not responded to retraction requests, and the article remains online. Further … Continue reading One year later, bioinformatics journal with unclear leadership yet to retract plagiarized article

Anthropology groups cancel conference panel on why biological sex is “necessary” for research

Two anthropology organizations co-hosting a conference this fall have removed from the program a panel presentation entitled “Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Why biological sex remains a necessary analytic category in anthropology.”  The panel had been slated for the joint annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA), to be … Continue reading Anthropology groups cancel conference panel on why biological sex is “necessary” for research

Yale professor’s book ‘systematically misrepresents’ sources, review claims

The first book of a Yale professor of Chinese history contains a “multitude of problems,” according to a no-holds-barred review published last month.   Uncertainty in the Empire of Routine: The Administrative Revolution of the Eighteenth-Century Qing State appeared last August from Harvard University Press. Its author, Maura Dykstra, is now an assistant professor of history … Continue reading Yale professor’s book ‘systematically misrepresents’ sources, review claims

Swedish beauty study that sparked ‘storm of criticism’ is cleared

The economist behind a controversial study showing attractive female students got lower grades after classes moved online during the pandemic has been acquitted of research misconduct, according to a report from his former institution. But the researcher, Adrian Mehic, did not get off without reproof: Even if the work kept to the letter of the … Continue reading Swedish beauty study that sparked ‘storm of criticism’ is cleared

Frontiers retracts nearly 40 papers linked to ‘authorship-for-sale’

The publisher Frontiers has retracted nearly 40 papers across multiple journals linked to “the unethical practice of buying or selling authorship on research papers,” according to a press release posted to a company website Monday.  The release also states Frontiers is adopting new policies to prevent the sale of authorships on papers it publishes.  The … Continue reading Frontiers retracts nearly 40 papers linked to ‘authorship-for-sale’