PubPeer Selections: “Meta-rant” about Science paper; posting raw data satisfies critics; was gel splicing ever OK?
Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections:
Search Results for: "plos one"
Language of a liar named Stapel: Can word choice be used to identify scientific fraud?
A pair of Cornell researchers have analyzed the works of fraudster Diederik Stapel and found linguistic tics that stand out in his fabricated articles. David Markowitz and Jeffrey Hancock looked at 49 of the Dutch social psychologist’s papers — 24 of which included falsified data. (Stapel has lost 54 papers so far.) According to the … Continue reading Language of a liar named Stapel: Can word choice be used to identify scientific fraud?
Sampling the wrong part of the aorta sinks aneurysm paper
A paper on an experimental treatment for abdominal aneurysms has been retracted after it was discovered samples had been taken from the wrong part of the aorta. Here is the PLOS ONE notice for “Inhibition of Rho-Kinase by Fasudil Suppresses Formation and Progression of Experimental Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms:”
Weekend reads: Academics go to court, hijacked journals
Another busy week at Retraction Watch, with Ivan in Seoul speaking on research integrity at the Korean Medical Association conference. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
Weekend reads: “The best scientist in jail story since Galileo,” replication is “charming and naive”
Another busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
Weekend reads: Self-plagiarism and moral panic; sexism in science; peer review under scrutiny
Another busy week at Retraction Watch, which kicked off with our announcement that we’re hiring a paid intern. Here’s what was happening elsewhere around the web:
Wrong cell line leads to retraction of kidney cancer study
A group of authors in China has retracted their December 2013 paper in PLoS ONE after realizing that they’d been studying the wrong cells. The paper, “Up-Regulation of pVHL along with Down-Regulation of HIF-1α by NDRG2 Expression Attenuates Proliferation and Invasion in Renal Cancer Cells,” came from Lei Gao, of the Fourth Military Medical University, … Continue reading Wrong cell line leads to retraction of kidney cancer study
SK Sahoo notches sixth retraction
Chemist Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, of the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar, India, has earned his sixth retraction for image shennanigans, this time in Applied Materials & Interfaces. Sahoo, as we reported last year, had lost five articles in Acta Biomaterialia for what the journal called “highly unethical practices.” The latest retraction involves an article … Continue reading SK Sahoo notches sixth retraction
Following criticism, PLOS apologizes, clarifies new data policy
In response to “an extraordinary outpouring of discussions on open data and its place in scientific publishing” following a February 24 announcement about a new data policy at PLOS, the publisher has apologized and corrected the record. The new policy — which was actually first announced on January 23, as we noted here — had … Continue reading Following criticism, PLOS apologizes, clarifies new data policy
Journal editor defends retraction of GMO-rats study while authors reveal some of paper’s history
The debate over the retraction of a highly controversial paper on the effects of GMOs on rats continues unabated. This week, Adriane Fugh-Berman and Thomas Sherman wrote on the Hastings Center website that