Search Results for: "plos one"

Following up: Pamela Ronald publishes updated data following two retractions

Last year, we wrote about two retractions by Pamela Ronald and colleagues, after the group found that a bacterial strain they’d been using was contaminated. The group has now published a paper in PeerJ following their investigation into what went wrong. Ronald tells us the new paper, titled “The Xanthomonas Ax21 protein is processed by … Continue reading Following up: Pamela Ronald publishes updated data following two retractions

“Why Growing Retractions Are (Mostly) a Good Sign”: New study makes the case

Retraction Watch readers will no doubt be familiar with the fact that retraction rates are rising, but one of the unanswered questions has been whether that increase is due to more misconduct, greater awareness, or some combination of the two. In a new paper in PLOS Medicine, Daniele Fanelli, who has studied misconduct and related … Continue reading “Why Growing Retractions Are (Mostly) a Good Sign”: New study makes the case

Melendez notches retraction 14, Lemus now stands at 12

Two researchers who have appeared frequently on Retraction Watch have racked up another retraction each. This is the fourteenth retraction for Alirio Melendez, who was found guilty of misconduct by the National University of Singapore but denies the allegations. Here’s the notice in The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology for “Environmental toxicogenomics: A … Continue reading Melendez notches retraction 14, Lemus now stands at 12

JBC issues correction for paper by Khachigian, who has had four others retracted

The Journal of Biological Chemistry has a fairly gory correction — we’d call it a mega-correction — for a 2010 paper by Levon Khachigian, an Australian researcher whose studies of a new drug for skin cancer recently were halted over concerns about possible misconduct, including image manipulation. As we reported earlier this year, Khachigian has … Continue reading JBC issues correction for paper by Khachigian, who has had four others retracted

Doing the right thing: Researchers retract quorum sensing paper after public process

We’ll say it again: We like being able to point out when researchers stand up and do the right thing, even at personal cost. In December 2011, Pamela C. Ronald, of the University of California, Davis, and colleagues published a paper in PLOS ONE,”Small Protein-Mediated Quorum Sensing in a Gram-Negative Bacterium.” Such quorum sensing research … Continue reading Doing the right thing: Researchers retract quorum sensing paper after public process

Are US behavioral science researchers more likely to exaggerate their results?

When Retraction Watch readers think of problematic psychology research, their minds might naturally turn to Diederik Stapel, who now has 54 retractions under his belt. Dirk Smeesters might also tickle the neurons. But a look at our psychology category shows that psychology retractions are an international phenomenon. (Remember Marc Hauser?) And a new paper in … Continue reading Are US behavioral science researchers more likely to exaggerate their results?

Birds of a feather: Authors who play games with fowl data earn multiple retractions

A group of animal health researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences have lost their 2009 paper in the Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology because they’d published the data in at least four other articles. The paper, “Two Novel Duck Antibacterial Peptides, Avian β-Defensins 9 and 10, with Antimicrobial Activity,” reported that:

“Why Has the Number of Scientific Retractions Increased?” New study tries to answer

The title of this post is the title of a new study in PLOS ONE by three researchers whose names Retraction Watch readers may find familiar: Grant Steen, Arturo Casadevall, and Ferric Fang. Together and separately, they’ve examined retraction trends in a number of papers we’ve covered. Their new paper tries to answer a question … Continue reading “Why Has the Number of Scientific Retractions Increased?” New study tries to answer

A mega-correction for Rui Curi, whose lawyers threatened to sue Science-Fraud.org

A Brazilian researcher whose legal threats helped lead to the shutdown of Science-Fraud.org and who has had two papers retracted has had to correct another paper. The fourth correction for Rui Curi — and we’d call it a mega-correction — is of a paper in PLOS ONE. Curi is the fourth out of 11 authors; … Continue reading A mega-correction for Rui Curi, whose lawyers threatened to sue Science-Fraud.org

Quorum sensing paper retracted when new study suggests compounds weren’t what they seemed

The authors of a paper on quorum sensing — in simple terms, how bacteria “talk” to one another — have retracted it after another group’s findings led them to discover that the mixture they used weren’t what they thought. The refreshingly detailed retraction notice in PLOS ONE explains: