Search Results for: "plos one"

PLOS ONE has faced a decline in submissions – why? New editor speaks

By some measures, 2016 was a somewhat rocky year for PLOS ONE — it issued some high-profile retractions, and published fewer papers, in part due to a decline in submissions. Still, the first multidisciplinary open-access journal — which accepts all submissions that meet technical and ethical standards, regardless of the results — publishes more than … Continue reading PLOS ONE has faced a decline in submissions – why? New editor speaks

When does “overlap” become plagiarism? Here’s what PLOS ONE decided

Consider this: Fragments of a PLOS ONE paper overlap with pieces of other publications. The authors used them without credit and without quotation marks. This sounds an awful lot like plagiarism — using PLOS‘s own standards, even. But the journal isn’t calling it plagiarism. They’ve labeled this an instance of “text overlap,” a spokesperson told us, based … Continue reading When does “overlap” become plagiarism? Here’s what PLOS ONE decided

PLOS ONE’s correction rate is higher than average. Why?

When a high-profile psychologist reviewed her newly published paper in PLOS ONE, she was dismayed to notice multiple formatting errors. So she contacted the journal to find out what had gone wrong, especially since checking the page proofs would have spotted the problem immediately. The authors were surprised to learn that it was against the … Continue reading PLOS ONE’s correction rate is higher than average. Why?

PLOS ONE flags math paper over algorithm concerns

PLOS ONE has issued an expression of concern (EOC) for a 2014 math paper after readers raised concerns with its algorithm. According to the first author of the paper — Hafsa Athar Jafree from the University of Karachi in Pakistan — none of the authors agreed to the EOC notice. She told us the paper contains … Continue reading PLOS ONE flags math paper over algorithm concerns

PLOS ONE pulls malaria study for “inappropriate manipulation” of figures

PLOS ONE has retracted a malaria paper after an institutional investigation found evidence the authors had manipulated multiple figures. According to the notice, the authors’ institution — the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi, India — recommended the journal retract the paper. Here’s the retraction notice, issued by PLOS ONE … Continue reading PLOS ONE pulls malaria study for “inappropriate manipulation” of figures

PLOS ONE retracts 2 malaria papers over doubts experiments ever took place

Authors have retracted a pair of PLOS ONE papers after an investigation suggested the articles might contain some fiction. In the papers, the authors describe collecting and analyzing the DNA of mosquitoes to look for changes following the introduction of bed nets treated with insecticides to combat malaria. However, an investigation by the Institut de Recherche pour … Continue reading PLOS ONE retracts 2 malaria papers over doubts experiments ever took place

PLOS ONE republishes removed chronic fatigue syndrome data

PLOS ONE has republished data that were abruptly removed two weeks ago after the authors expressed concerns they did not have permission to release them. The dataset — de-identified information from people with chronic fatigue syndrome — was removed May 18, noting it was “published in error.” But this week, the journal republished the dataset, saying the authors’ university had … Continue reading PLOS ONE republishes removed chronic fatigue syndrome data

PLOS ONE paper plagiarized from 17 articles — yes, 17

A PLOS ONE paper about chronic pain plagiarized from multiple sources — 17, in fact. According to the retraction notice released by the journal last week, the paper contains “extensive verbatim use of text from other sources.” How did this make it past the editors? The journal published the paper in 2012 — before it began screening … Continue reading PLOS ONE paper plagiarized from 17 articles — yes, 17

PLOS ONE pulls maize paper with Photoshopped images

PLOS ONE has retracted a paper after editors learned that some of the images had been manipulated using Photoshop. First author of the paper, Chuan Li, confirmed that he was responsible, and told Retraction Watch he apologizes for his “low-level mistake.” Zhongfu Ni, last author of the paper from the China Agricultural University in Beijing, told us … Continue reading PLOS ONE pulls maize paper with Photoshopped images

PLOS ONE retracting paper that cites “the Creator”

PLOS ONE has retracted a paper published one month ago after readers began criticizing it for mentioning “the Creator.” The article “Biomechanical Characteristics of Hand Coordination in Grasping Activities of Daily Living” now includes a reader comment from PLOS Staff, noting: