In April of this year, Corneel Vandelanotte realized something had gone wrong with a paper he had recently published. First, there was a post about his paper by Nick Brown, a scientific sleuth, questioning the results, ethics, and authors behind the work. That was followed by a comment on PubPeer by Elisabeth Bik, another scientific … Continue reading ‘How I got fooled’: The story behind the retraction of a study of gamers
On the heels of retractions of papers based on data that has fallen under intense scrutiny, an emergency medicine group in Africa is withdrawing a tool that they built using data from the same company. Lee Wallis, one of the editors in chief of the African Journal of Emergency Medicine, described the tool, built in … Continue reading Group withdraws COVID-19 scoring tool based on Surgisphere data following NEJM, Lancet retractions
A March paper by researchers at Imperial College London that, in the words of the Washington Post, “helped upend U.S. and U.K. coronavirus strategies,” cited a preprint that had been withdrawn. Retraction Watch became aware of the issue after being contacted by a PubPeer commenter who had noted the withdrawal earlier this month. Following questions … Continue reading Authors to correct influential Imperial College COVID-19 report after learning it cited a withdrawn preprint
The paper that appears to have triggered the Trump administration’s obsession with hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for infection with the novel coronavirus has received a statement of concern from the society that publishes the journal in which the work appeared. The April 3, 2020, notice, from the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, states that the … Continue reading Hydroxychloroquine-COVID-19 study did not meet publishing society’s “expected standard”
A trio of researchers in Argentina is up to three retractions, and may well lose even more papers, for doctoring their images. And, in an unusual move, one of the leading data sleuths is getting credit for her work helping to out the problematic figures. One article, “Apocynin-induced nitric oxide production confers antioxidant protection in … Continue reading “We thank Dr. Elisabeth Bik for drawing the irregularities to the authors’ attention.” A sleuth earns recognition.
Over the years, many papers have cited the work of Retraction Watch, whether a blog post, an article we’ve written for another outlet, or our database. Here’s a selection. Know of one we’ve missed? Let us know at [email protected]. Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our work, follow us on Twitter, like … Continue reading Papers that cite Retraction Watch
Following five years of criticism, a group of researchers based at Stanford and elsewhere have retracted a 2006 paper in Nature for “image anomalies.” The notice for “Lysyl oxidase is essential for hypoxia-induced metastasis” reads:
The journal Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology has attached expressions of concern to 13 papers published in 2019 that a group of sleuths have flagged for potentially being from a paper mill. In February, Elisabeth Bik wrote on her blog: Based on the resemblance of the Western blot bands to tadpoles (the larval stage of … Continue reading Journal slaps 13 expressions of concern on papers suspected of being from a paper mill
A team of heart researchers at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio has received expressions of concern for two papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, which says the images in the articles appear suspect. The papers, both of which appeared in 2004, come from the lab of Subha Sen, a highly-funded scientist who has received millions … Continue reading Cleveland Clinic heart researchers earn two expressions of concern
The Journal of Virology has retracted three papers, and corrected two others, by a group led by a researcher at the University of Maryland, for problematic images. The articles, published in 2008 and 2014, describe experiments to assess the immune response to Newcastle disease virus in various animal species. The studies were led by Siba … Continue reading Four retractions follow misconduct inquiry at U Maryland