Search Results for: sting

Nature Communications retracts much-criticized paper on mentorship

A month after announcing it would be conducting a “priority” investigation into a November 17 paper that claimed women in science fare better with male rather than female mentors, Nature Communications has retracted the article. In the article, “The association between early career informal mentorship in academic collaborations and junior author performance,” the authors — … Continue reading Nature Communications retracts much-criticized paper on mentorship

Weekend reads: p-hacking the US election; an apparently fake author sinks a stock; sued for using a research tool

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Western University materials scientist committed misconduct, according to investigation Public … Continue reading Weekend reads: p-hacking the US election; an apparently fake author sinks a stock; sued for using a research tool

Elsevier looking into “very serious concerns” after student calls out journal for fleet of Star Trek articles, other issues

An undergraduate student in the United Kingdom has taken to task the editors of a purportedly scholarly journal for having published more than 100 papers by a Maltese researcher with a deep affinity for Star Trek. In a Dec. 8, 2020, letter to the editors of Early Human Development (EHD), Hampton Gaddy, a BA student … Continue reading Elsevier looking into “very serious concerns” after student calls out journal for fleet of Star Trek articles, other issues

Journal retracts 70-year-old article on homosexuality for “long discredited beliefs, prejudices, and practices”

We wrote in September in WIRED about a trend among journals of purging racist and sexist work from their archives. To that trend we can now add papers that are homophobic and racist. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease has retracted a 1951 article by one Benjamin H. Glover, at the time a professor … Continue reading Journal retracts 70-year-old article on homosexuality for “long discredited beliefs, prejudices, and practices”

Weekend reads: Robots come to scientific publishing; questions about a COVID-19 vaccine; funding by lottery

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Johns Hopkins student newspaper deletes, then retracts, article on faculty … Continue reading Weekend reads: Robots come to scientific publishing; questions about a COVID-19 vaccine; funding by lottery

Johns Hopkins student newspaper deletes, then retracts, article on faculty member’s presentation about COVID-19 deaths

A student newspaper at Johns Hopkins has retracted an article claiming that COVID-19 has had “relatively no effect on deaths in the United States.” The article, “A closer look at U.S. deaths due to COVID-19” (link from the Wayback Machine) was published on November 22 and relied on a presentation by Genevieve Briand, assistant program … Continue reading Johns Hopkins student newspaper deletes, then retracts, article on faculty member’s presentation about COVID-19 deaths

Subtraction by addition: A journal expresses concern again — but this time, with feeling

A journal published by the Royal Society in the United Kingdom has issued an updated expression of concern for a 2018 paper by a mathematician whose work has been the subject of intense scrutiny on this website and elsewhere. But the notice is less of a statement of problems than a rationalization. The paper, “Quantum … Continue reading Subtraction by addition: A journal expresses concern again — but this time, with feeling

Science retracts paper co-authored by high-profile scientist and former Dutch minister

Science has retracted a 13-year-old paper, five years after data sleuth Elisabeth Bik first raised questions about issues with the images in the article.  The paper, “Secondary siRNAs result from unprimed RNA synthesis and form a distinct class,” appeared in 2007 and was written by a group of researchers in the Netherlands and Switzerland. The … Continue reading Science retracts paper co-authored by high-profile scientist and former Dutch minister

Co-authors of paper on COVID-19 and jade amulets blame ‘the online press’ and social media for misinterpretation in retraction letter

The co-authors of a paper that claimed jade amulets might prevent COVID-19 have tried to distance themselves from the work, in a letter to the co-editor of the journal that published it.  In fact, the first author, Moses Bility of the University of Pittsburgh, says of his co-authors:

Author blames “multitasking dementia” for duplicated cancer paper

The authors of a 2017 paper on resistance to cancer chemotherapy have retracted and replaced the article after learning that it included duplicated material from previously published work by one of the duo.  The article, “The evolution and ecology of resistance in cancer therapy,” was written by Robert Gatenby and Joel Brown, of the Moffitt … Continue reading Author blames “multitasking dementia” for duplicated cancer paper