Prominent Korean heart doctor earns two retractions in a month

Two Korean journals last month pulled papers by a prominent cardiologist at Yonsei University, Professor Hui-Nam Pak, with one retraction notice citing “issues related to scientific misconduct.” Commenters on PubPeer had raised several concerns about data integrity, “mixed-up” data and “statistical nonsense” in “eNOS3 Genetic Polymorphism Is Related to Post-Ablation Early Recurrence of Atrial Fibrillation,” … Continue reading Prominent Korean heart doctor earns two retractions in a month

Weekend reads: ‘Breakthroughs’ slowing down?; self-publishing among editors; data tampering in space science

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 286. There are more than 38,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — or … Continue reading Weekend reads: ‘Breakthroughs’ slowing down?; self-publishing among editors; data tampering in space science

Influential paper linking recessions and left-wing voting patterns retracted

A highly cited economics paper that suggested people raised during recessions were more likely to vote for left-leaning political parties has been retracted, apparently due to a coding error that rendered the results invalid.  The retraction marks a rarity among economics papers, which research has shown are infrequently retracted compared to papers on other subjects. … Continue reading Influential paper linking recessions and left-wing voting patterns retracted

Ob-gyn who called criticism ‘racist’ and ‘hate speech’ earns retraction, several expressions of concern

There shouldn’t have been many differences between the women recruited for the three clinical trials: All of them gave birth at the same two Cairo hospitals over a period of less than three years, and all of them were treated to prevent or manage postpartum bleeding. Three samples from this pool of patients, Ben Mol … Continue reading Ob-gyn who called criticism ‘racist’ and ‘hate speech’ earns retraction, several expressions of concern

Reddit post prompts retraction of article that called Trump ‘the main driver of vaccine misinformation on Twitter’

In October 2021, a Reddit user on the r/badscience subforum posted a long critique of an article published in PLOS ONE earlier that year that had analyzed the “anti-vaccination infodemic” on Twitter and concluded that former U.S. president Donald Trump was “the main driver of vaccine misinformation” on the platform before his account was suspended. … Continue reading Reddit post prompts retraction of article that called Trump ‘the main driver of vaccine misinformation on Twitter’

Weekend reads: ChatGPT fools scientists; did COVID-19 trials cut corners?; do scientific societies need journals?

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 285. There are more than 38,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — or … Continue reading Weekend reads: ChatGPT fools scientists; did COVID-19 trials cut corners?; do scientific societies need journals?

Was a paper from Taiwan retracted because of a geopolitical dispute? 

A study in the journal Smart Materials in Medicine has earned a retraction, seemingly not because of scholarly malfeasance or an inadvertent oversight, but because of a “lack of agreement on affiliation format.”  The crucial fact seems to be that almost all of the article’s authors, including its two senior authors, list affiliations in Taiwan, … Continue reading Was a paper from Taiwan retracted because of a geopolitical dispute? 

Japanese university asks surgeon to retract eight ‘fraudulent’ papers

An oral surgeon in Japan falsified images in several papers, granted authorship to whomever he saw fit and stored experimental data sloppily, according to an investigation by Showa University in Tokyo, where the physician was a lecturer at the time of the misconduct.  As a result of the findings, the university has recommended retracting eight … Continue reading Japanese university asks surgeon to retract eight ‘fraudulent’ papers

Weekend reads: China cracks down; unearned authorship rife; new jargon for a new year

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 283. There are more than 38,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have you seen our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions lately — or … Continue reading Weekend reads: China cracks down; unearned authorship rife; new jargon for a new year

Weekend reads: A professor plagiarizes a student; Chat-GPT makes it into the literature; a newspaper archive vanishes

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Last chance for a tax-deductible contribution in 2022! Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up to 282. There are more than 37,000 retractions in our database — which powers retraction alerts in EndNote, LibKey, Papers, and Zotero. And have … Continue reading Weekend reads: A professor plagiarizes a student; Chat-GPT makes it into the literature; a newspaper archive vanishes