Welcome to the Top 10, Fazlul Sarkar. Sarkar, the cancer researcher formerly of Wayne State University who once tried to sue critics on PubPeer, has had another seven papers retracted. That makes a total of 40, and places him in the Top 10 of our leaderboard of authors with the most retractions. Three of the … Continue reading Cancer researcher who once tried to sue critics is up to 40 retracted papers
The wheels of scientific publishing turn slowly … but they do (sometimes) turn. In January, we reported on the case of a paper on global warming marred by several problems, including allegations of plagiarism and “false claims” by the authors — which readers had raised as early as 2014, with no result. (Find a discussion … Continue reading Four years after readers raise concerns, journal finally retracts climate paper
Note: This post has been updated. Here’s an object lesson for scientists who find out they’ve been ripped off by other researchers: Taking matters into your own hands can produce results. An aggrieved author’s doggedness led to the retraction of a 2013 paper that plagiarized his work, along with the revocation of a doctoral … Continue reading Persistence pays off for plagiarized author: emails spur retraction, sanctions against researcher
One of the suggestions we get regularly here at Retraction Watch is something along the lines of “This researcher publishes too much. You should look into that.” But how much is too much? The phenomenon was the subject of a 2015 paper. It’s also the subject of a new article in Nature by John Ioannidis, … Continue reading When it comes to authorship, how prolific is too prolific?
Tokyo Women’s Medical University has stripped a researcher of her PhD, following the retraction of a paper — for data duplication — that was based on her thesis. The August 30th announcement notes that a degree was revoked on July 20. The announcement does not name the researcher, but refers to degree number 2881, which … Continue reading Japanese university revokes PhD following a retraction
A lab at the University of Malaya has lost two papers and will have to correct five more — just from one publisher — over poor lab practices. One of the retracted papers paper tested the effects of a plant on liver damage; its notice says the paper contains overlap with another paper from the … Continue reading Publisher retracts two papers, will correct five more for lab with high “level of disorganization”
If you read this space, you probably know the name Brad Bushman. He studies the effects of violent video games on the people who play them. He also has just retracted his third paper, and significantly corrected another. Although Bushman remains a prominent voice in a highly contentious field — prompting numerous media to consult … Continue reading Prominent video game-violence researcher loses another paper to retraction
The similarities between recent papers in two different journals about energy were striking — so striking that a number of people have taken to Twitter and Facebook to let the world know about them. [1415 UTC, August 29, 2018: See update at the end of this post.] One paper, “Systematic investigation of the impact of operation … Continue reading UPDATED: Elsevier retracts a paper on solar cells that appears to plagiarize a Nature journal. But the reason is…odd.
When you think a retraction notice doesn’t tell the whole story, what should you do? For one group of researchers who’ve been closely following how journals handle the work associated with a bone researcher found guilty of misconduct, the actions of one publication were too problematic to let go. So the researchers wrote to the … Continue reading Dear editor: Your retraction notice stinks
An award-winning researcher and founder of a biotech company based in Ireland has retracted four papers and corrected another. In the last few weeks, Therese Kinsella — a professor at the University of College of Dublin (UCD) — has issued a correction and three retractions in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) of papers dating … Continue reading Researcher and biotech founder in Ireland issues four retractions