Last week, The Lancet honored a co-author’s request to remove his name from Paolo Macchiarini’s seminal 2011 paper, which described the first transplant of an artificial trachea seeded with autologous stem cells but has since come under fire. On March 3, the journal posted this notice: The Lancet has been contacted by Dr KH Grinnemo … Continue reading Whistleblower removed from Macchiarini’s Lancet author list
This week at Retraction Watch featured seven retractions in a long-running case involving cancer research, as well as the retraction of a paper claiming a link between a vaccine and behavioral issues. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
The Swedish government is taking a second look at how it handles misconduct investigations. According to a spokesperson: Yes, we have an national investigation ongoing since last autumn. It will investigate how misconduct is investigated and handled in Sweden… She also sent us a link to a description of the investigation, in Swedish. The outcome … Continue reading Sweden, rocked by scientific scandals, re-thinking how it investigates misconduct
There’s more news to report on the story of surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who’s been dogged by allegations of misconduct. After the Karolinska Institutet (KI) announced it would not extend his contract and that he needed to “phase out” his research by November, it has now announced it may dismiss him. In addition, Hans-Gustaf Ljunggren, KI’s Dean of … Continue reading Macchiarini may be dismissed from Karolinska; dean of research resigns
The week at Retraction Watch featured a peer review nightmare come true, and a look at why publishing negative findings is hard. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
There’s good news and bad news in radiology research, according to a new study: The number of retractions is increasing in radiology journals, but the rate of retraction remains lower than that seen in biomedical journals outside the field of radiology. According to the study in the American Journal of Roentgenology, between 1986 and 2001, … Continue reading Do radiology journals retract fewer papers? New study suggests yes
A Toronto hospital network is keeping two researchers’ labs closed even after an Ontario court quashed part of a misconduct finding by the institution. Some background: After the University Health Network found evidence of falsified data, Sylvia Asa stepped down as Program Medical Director of the Laboratory Medicine Program, the largest hospital diagnostic laboratory in Canada. Due to the investigation, UHN suspended the labs … Continue reading Sanction for Toronto researchers upheld despite court challenge
Embattled trachea surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who has spent more than a year fighting misconduct allegations, is defending the ethical oversight behind one of his seminal papers published in The Lancet. The 2011 paper “Tracheobronchial transplantation with a stem-cell-seeded bioartificial nanocomposite: a proof-of-concept study” described a first-of-its-kind procedure: A 36-year-old man with recurrent tracheal cancer received an artificial … Continue reading Macchiarini defends ethics of 2011 Lancet paper
The media has been abuzz in the last few weeks with developments in the ongoing story about “super surgeon” Paolo Macchiarini. We’ve been covering the allegations against him for years (and invited him to publish a guest post on our site). Below, we present a timeline of recent events, to keep you abreast of what we know … Continue reading Reading about embattled trachea surgeon Paolo Macchiarini? Here’s what you need to know
The week at Retraction Watch featured a paper on reincarnation being retracted because it was plagiarized from Wikipedia, the swift retraction of a paper claiming that women’s makeup use was tied to testosterone levels, and a lot of news about trachea surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: