The vice chancellor for research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s medical school has admitted to plagiarizing text in an NIH grant application, according to a U.S. federal watchdog. Terry Magnuson, who serves as the Kay M. & Van L. Weatherspoon Eminent Distinguished Professor of Genetics at UNC-Chapel Hill as well as … Continue reading UNC-Chapel Hill vice chancellor admits to plagiarism
A Springer Nature journal has retracted a 2020 paper on exposure among cement workers to a potentially harmful chemical for a litany of errors that one might have expected peer reviewers to catch before publication – and the corresponding author is not happy. Titled “Citrate stabilized Fe3O4/DMG modified carbon paste electrode for determination of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane … Continue reading Author asks ‘Why? Why? And why?’ as his paper is retracted
IOP Publishing has retracted a total of 350 papers from two different 2021 conference proceedings because an “investigation has uncovered evidence of systematic manipulation of the publication process and considerable citation manipulation.” The case is just the latest involving the discovery of papers full of gibberish – aka “tortured phrases” – thanks to the work … Continue reading Publisher retracts 350 papers at once
Can you retract something that never existed in the first place? At least one journal thinks the answer to that conundrum is yes. That journal would be Medicine. In September 2020, the Wolters Kluwer journal published a paper titled “Tranexamic acid reduces blood cost in long-segment spinal fusion surgery: A randomized controlled study protocol” by … Continue reading Journal retracts a paper it published with a missing table after author fails to provide it
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: ‘I needed a publication in order to submit my thesis’: Author admits to stealing a manuscript Science issues expression of concern nine months after one of its reporters uncovers potential misconduct Publisher cancels special … Continue reading Weekend reads: Paying for publication?; deeper looks at citation practices; preprints and retractions
MDPI was about to publish a special issue in one of its journals to fete the career of a retired dean. But after Retraction Watch informed the co-editors of the issue that the researcher, Kishor Wasan, had abruptly retired after being found to have plagiarized a 2019 book review for The Lancet, the publisher evidently … Continue reading Publisher cancels special issue honoring plagiarizing dean following Retraction Watch inquiries
A leading repository of social science which is owned by Elsevier has reposted an article it removed on New Year’s Day after the author was accused of defamation and the site was threatened with legal action if it didn’t remove the paper. The article in question was written by Ann Lipton, the associate dean for … Continue reading Preprint on discrimination against women reinstated by Elsevier server after removal for legal threats
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Ivermectin papers slapped with expressions of concern More than 100 of an anesthesiologist’s papers retracted KCL investigation finds misconduct in Lancet Neurology paper Philadelphia-area lung researcher up to six retractions Biotech’s ‘cell squeezing’ technology … Continue reading Weekend reads: Weaponizing doubt; pharma’s lawsuit against journal dismissed; ‘misconstrued misinformation’
A journal has issued expressions of concern for a pair of 2021 meta-analyses purporting to find that ivermectin is an effective treatment for Covid-19 after data sleuths raised questions about some of the research in the studies. As we reported last fall, one of the two papers – “Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 … Continue reading Ivermectin papers slapped with expressions of concern
There’s a new entry on the Retraction Watch Leaderboard. And this one is also the fourth member of the Retraction Watch Century Club. An anesthesiology researcher in Japan is now up to 117 retractions – putting him third on our list of most-retracted authors. Hironobu Ueshima, formerly of Showa University Hospital in Tokyo, was found … Continue reading More than 100 of an anesthesiologist’s papers retracted