Search Results for: doing the right thing

Professor sues UC Davis over forced retirement following misconduct inquiry

Last year, a professor brought a suit against his former university after it forced him to retire. Now, he’s adding defamation to his list of allegations. In a lawsuit filed July 14, 2016, Ishwarlal “Kenny” Jialal, a cardiovascular researcher who worked at the University of California, Davis Medical Center from 2002 to 2016, alleges the … Continue reading Professor sues UC Davis over forced retirement following misconduct inquiry

NIH to researchers: Don’t publish in bad journals, please

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has noticed something: More of the research it’s funding is ending up in questionable journals. Recently, the agency issued a statement highlighting some qualities of these journals — aggressively soliciting submissions, failing to provide clear information about pricing — and urging researchers to avoid them. The NIH’s goal: to … Continue reading NIH to researchers: Don’t publish in bad journals, please

Make reviews public, says peer review expert

After more than 30 years working with scholarly journals, Irene Hames has some thoughts on how to improve peer review. She even wrote a book about it. As the first recipient of the Publons Sentinel Award, Hames spoke to us about the most pressing issues she believes are facing the peer review system — and … Continue reading Make reviews public, says peer review expert

Lawyers call libel suit against journal and critic “lawless” but “well written”

A $10 million defamation suit filed by a Stanford University professor against a critic and a journal may be an assault on free speech, according to one lawyer, but at least it’s “well written.” Kenneth White, a lawyer at Southern California firm Brown White & Osborn who frequently blogs about legal issues related to free … Continue reading Lawyers call libel suit against journal and critic “lawless” but “well written”

To catch a fraudster: Publisher’s image screening cuts down errata, “repeat offenders”

When a publisher rolls out image screening on its journals over an eight-year-period, some surprising things happen. For one, researchers whose papers were flagged are less likely to make the same mistake again. That’s according to new findings presented by the American Physiological Society (APS), which began increasingly checking images in accepted papers for splicing and other … Continue reading To catch a fraudster: Publisher’s image screening cuts down errata, “repeat offenders”

Estimate: Nearly 33,000 papers include misidentified cell lines. Experts talk ways to combat growing problem

Although most researchers realize too many are using misidentified cell lines in their work, they may be shocked to see the scope of the problem: Approximately 32,755 articles report on research that relied on misidentified cells, according to a new report in PLoS ONE. And even though more people may be aware of the problem, it … Continue reading Estimate: Nearly 33,000 papers include misidentified cell lines. Experts talk ways to combat growing problem

Weekend reads: Systemic fraud in China; science without journals; authorship rules decay

The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a paper that had been called “anti-vaccine pseudoscience,” a retraction following threats of violence against an editor, and an editorial board member’s resignation over how a journal handled a case of plagiarism. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Journal adds concern notice to paper by psychologist Jens Förster

A social psychology journal has added an expression of concern to a paper by prominent social psychologist Jens Förster, whose work has been subject to much scrutiny. This is the latest in a long-running saga involving Förster. The 2012 paper in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology had been flagged by a 2015 report describing … Continue reading Journal adds concern notice to paper by psychologist Jens Förster

Carlo Croce, Ohio State researcher facing misconduct allegations, suing New York Times for defamation

Carlo Croce, a cancer researcher at The Ohio State University who has faced numerous allegations of research misconduct, has filed a lawsuit against the New York Times, claiming the newspaper defamed him in a March 8 story. Croce filed the civil suit May 10, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, … Continue reading Carlo Croce, Ohio State researcher facing misconduct allegations, suing New York Times for defamation

Ketamine-depression paper retracted following investigation at Yale

A psychiatry journal has retracted a 2011 paper exploring the use of ketamine to treat patients with severe depression following an investigation at Yale University. According to the retraction notice, Yale determined that the paper, published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, did not accurately describe the research. But the study’s lead author, Gregory Larkin, … Continue reading Ketamine-depression paper retracted following investigation at Yale