As a reporter on the police beat many years ago, one of us (Adam) used to hang out with a press officer whose desk at the station had the following sign: “Uma boca fechado não recolhe nenhum pé.” At least, that’s what it would have been had we been in Rio. In Palmer Park, Maryland, … Continue reading Researcher who called plagiarism “the worst type of fraud” retracts paper for…plagiarism
The Dutch papers are reporting that Peter Nijkamp, one of the leading economists in The Netherlands, has been embroiled in what looks like a self-plagiarism scandal following the cancellation of a thesis defense by one of his graduate students because of plagiarism. We say “what looks like” because it’s tough to figure out what’s alleged … Continue reading Dutch economist Nijkamp embroiled in plagiarism and duplication scandal
A group of researchers in China has lost a paper on the human microbiome in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology for cannibalizing much of it from previously published work by other scientists. The article, titled “Human gut microbiota: dysbiosis and manipulation,” appeared on Sept. 27, 2012, and was written by a team from the … Continue reading Gut instinct: Intestinal flora paper yanked for plagiarism
The Journal of Pregnancy has retracted a 2012 article by a pair of researchers in Iran who lifted the contents from an article published 10 years previous. The paper, “The Effects of Fetal Gender on Serum Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and Testosterone in Normotensive and Preeclamptic Pregnancies,” was written by Nahid Lorzadeh and Sirous Kazemirad, OBs … Continue reading Chip off the old block: Pregnancy paper yanked for plagiarism
A group of virologists from Kazakhstan and Russia have lost their 2011 bird flu article in Virologica Sinica. Their offense: plagiarizing from a previous article by a team from Sweden on a similar topic. The paper, “Phylogenetic Analysis of the Non-structural (NS) Gene of Influenza A Viruses Isolated in Kazakhstan in 2002–2009,” which purported to … Continue reading Plagiarism forces retraction of Slavic bird flu paper
We’ve been alerted to a third retracted paper, and a retracted book chapter, for Stefano Ramello, a self-styled “independent researcher” into sexual identity. Turns out there wasn’t so much independence after all. The article, “Same sex acts involving older men. An ethnographic study,” had appeared in the April 2013 issue of the Journal of Aging Studies. … Continue reading “He certainly has some chutzpah!” More plagiarism retractions for sex researcher Ramello
We’re always glad to have guest posts, and here’s one from François-Xavier Coudert, reporting from France. As we reported the other day, a Nature editorial suggested that police involvement might be an appropriate response to research misconduct. The French seem to agree, based on reports in the media there, as Coudert writes: A husband-wife team … Continue reading France tries husband-wife team for research misconduct in plagiarism case
A group of anesthesiology researchers in China has lost their 2011 paper in Der Anaesthesist because, well, the article wasn’t theirs to begin with. The paper, “Different anesthesia methods for laparoscopic cholecystectomy,” came from authors at the 309th Hospital of PLA, in Beijing, who purported to report on a randomized trial of 68 patients undergoing … Continue reading Same “difference,” as anesthesia paper retracted for plagiarism
The other day, we nominated a phrase in a retraction notice for the prize “of most-extra-syllables-used-to-say-the-word-plagiarism” because a journal decided to call the act “inclusion of significant passages of unattributed material from other authors.” That lovely phrase can now be added to our list of best euphemisms for plagiarism, which we highlight in our most … Continue reading P values: Scientific journals’ top ten plagiarism euphemisms
Two journals have retracted five papers by a researcher in Taiwan who evidently took the notion of teamwork a little too liberally. The first notice is one we missed when it came out in 2012 in the British Journal of Educational Technology. The article, “Learning in troubleshooting of automotive braking system: a project-based teamwork approach,” … Continue reading Five plagiarism retractions appear for Taiwan engineer