On Sept. 17, 2019, virologist David Sanders — who recently won a lawsuit brought against him for efforts as a scientific sleuth — wrote a letter to the Journal of Cellular Physiology about a 2004 paper whose images raised his eyebrows. The response a day later from an editorial assistant was a hint of what … Continue reading A journal publishes a critical letter — then says it was a mistake
Carlo Croce can’t catch a break in court. Yesterday, a Federal U.S. judge ruled against Croce, a cancer researcher at The Ohio State University, in a case Croce had filed against Purdue University professor David Sanders in 2017. As Judge James Graham, of the Southern District of Ohio Eastern Division, writes in the 36-page ruling … Continue reading Cancer researcher loses defamation suit against critic
Talk about the publish-or-perish version of the circle of life. A Springer Nature journal has retracted 33 articles — 29 from one special issue, and four from another — for a laundry list of publishing sins, from fake peer review to plagiarism to stealing unpublished manuscripts. And an Elsevier journal has retracted ten papers recently … Continue reading The circle of life, publish or perish edition: Two journals retract more than 40 papers
A pair of researchers in India with a history of stealing a paper from other authors during the peer review process have lost four more articles, this time for questionable data. The papers, by Priyadarshi Roy Chowdhury and Krishna G. Bhattacharyya, of Gauhati University in Jalukbari, appeared in journals published by the UK’s Royal Society … Continue reading Authors aren’t happy to lose four more papers in chemistry journals
A trio of researchers in Argentina is up to three retractions, and may well lose even more papers, for doctoring their images. And, in an unusual move, one of the leading data sleuths is getting credit for her work helping to out the problematic figures. One article, “Apocynin-induced nitric oxide production confers antioxidant protection in … Continue reading “We thank Dr. Elisabeth Bik for drawing the irregularities to the authors’ attention.” A sleuth earns recognition.
Kang Zhang, a formerly high-profile geneticist at the University of California, San Diego, who resigned his post last July amidst an investigation into undisclosed ties to China, has retracted a paper because some of its images were taken from other researchers’ work. The paper, “Impaired lipid metabolism by age-dependent DNA methylation alterations accelerates aging,” was … Continue reading Former UCSD prof who resigned amid investigation into China ties retracts paper for ‘inadvertently misidentified’ images
Following five years of criticism, a group of researchers based at Stanford and elsewhere have retracted a 2006 paper in Nature for “image anomalies.” The notice for “Lysyl oxidase is essential for hypoxia-induced metastasis” reads:
As Retraction Watch readers know, reporting on the same data more than once — without notifying editors and readers — is bad for the scientific record and can lead to a retraction. Apparently, in the rush to publish findings about the coronavirus pandemic, some researchers are doing just that. According to an editorial in JAMA … Continue reading Keeping coronavirus numbers straight: JAMA sounds an alarm
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: the retraction of a Nature paper by Harvard researchers; 13 … Continue reading Weekend reads: How to squander a $10 million grant; paid to publish; funding lotteries
Citing a misconduct investigation, the journal Stem Cells has retracted a 2009 article coauthored by a researcher whose work has been under suspicion for roughly five years. The paper was titled “Cell adhesion and spreading affect adipogenesis from embryonic stem cells: the role of calreticulin.” The retraction notice, which is behind a paywall, states: