Search Results for: physics

Oregon grad student admits to faking data in four neuroscience papers

A graduate student at the University of Oregon in Eugene has admitted to faking data that appeared in four published papers in the field of visual working memory, according to the Office of Research Integrity. David Anderson’s supervisor at the time was Edward Awh, who has since moved to the University of Chicago. Anderson told Retraction Watch … Continue reading Oregon grad student admits to faking data in four neuroscience papers

Weekend reads: California universities battle in court for research dollars; fake conferences; fake impact factors

This week at Retraction Watch featured a look at the nuances of replication efforts, aka “the replication paradox,” as well as yet another story of fake peer reviews, this time at Hindawi. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Two crystallography papers break apart for “trivial errors,” says author

Biophysicists in India have retracted two crystallography papers describing protein binding sites following “concerns,” according to one retraction note. The last author on both papers, however, told us he believed the retractions were the result of “trivial errors.” Although one journal praised him in its retraction note for his “positive engagement,” he said the process left him feeling … Continue reading Two crystallography papers break apart for “trivial errors,” says author

Weekend reads: Is failing to share data misconduct?; worst journal ever; Elsevier boycott

The big news this week at Retraction Watch was the release of more than two dozen retractions for accounting researcher James Hunton, and the sentencing of Dong-Pyou Han for scientific fraud (see more below). Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Meet the new Retraction Watch staff writer, Shannon Palus

Retraction Watch readers, please join us in welcoming Shannon Palus to our team. Palus, who has written for Discover, Slate, The Atlantic, and a host of other publications, joined us last week. She has a B.Sc. in physics, with a minor in anthropology, from McGill, where she worked at The McGill Daily. Since graduating, she’s worked as … Continue reading Meet the new Retraction Watch staff writer, Shannon Palus

Weekend reads: Sexism from a Nobel laureate; publisher deception; irreproducibility’s price tag

The week at Retraction Watch featured the story behind a Nature retraction, and the retraction of a paper by a pioneer in the field of exosome research. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Weekend reads: Honorary authorship demands, fetishizing metrics, does media attention drive research agenda?

The week at Retraction Watch featured a marriage proposal tucked into a paper’s acknowledgements section, the retraction of a controversial Science advice column, and The New York Times pushing for more focus and funding on research misconduct. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?

As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2:

Improper citation, PubPeer comment snowballs into double retraction in phys chem journal

ChemPhysChem is retracting a pair of articles by a group of researchers in China and their colleagues who pieced together the work from two previously published articles. The papers appeared in 2012 and 2015, and were flagged by a reader whose own work had been improperly cited, according to the editor of the journal. The 2012 … Continue reading Improper citation, PubPeer comment snowballs into double retraction in phys chem journal

Updated: Springer journal on hold for “pattern of inappropriate and compromised peer review”

Springer has put a cell biology journal on hold, “effective immediately,” after finding a “pattern of inappropriate and compromised peer review.” Here’s the brief statement from the publisher: