Search Results for: medical

Journal retracts C-section paper with ‘impossible’ data

An ob-gyn journal has retracted a clinically influential 2016 paper on the use of steroids in women undergoing cesarean delivery, citing questions about the data.  The article, “Antenatal corticosteroid administration before elective caesarean section at term to prevent neonatal respiratory morbidity: a randomized controlled trial,” appeared in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and … Continue reading Journal retracts C-section paper with ‘impossible’ data

Weekend reads: ‘The science crisis’; Peru president plagiarism probe; does a Nature cover help or hurt citations?

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Elsevier retracts papers when it realizes one of the authors hid fact he was guest editor of issue UPenn prof retracts three papers for ‘substantive questions’ Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers … Continue reading Weekend reads: ‘The science crisis’; Peru president plagiarism probe; does a Nature cover help or hurt citations?

Journal issues 55 expressions of concern at once

The journal Cureus has issued expressions of concern for a whopping 55 papers whose authorship has come into question.  The articles, including a couple like this one on COVID-19, were apparently submitted as part of an effort by Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, in Saudi Arabia, to pad the publishing resumes of its medical students … Continue reading Journal issues 55 expressions of concern at once

Nanotech group up to nine retractions

A group of nanotechnology researchers in Iran is up to nine retractions after losing four papers in a go for problematic figures. The work was led by Abolfazl Akbarzadeh, a medicinal chemist at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, who has spent time as a visiting professor at Boston University and UCLA. Commenters on PubPeer including … Continue reading Nanotech group up to nine retractions

Weekend reads: Should ‘peer reviewers be paid?’; Kim Kardashian and conflicts of interest; scandal costs millions in grants

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: COVID-19-vitamin D paper retracted by Springer Nature journal Study on reducing parents’ anxiety about children’s circumcision retracted More than 300 at once: Publisher retracts entire conference proceedings What we’ve learned from public records requests. … Continue reading Weekend reads: Should ‘peer reviewers be paid?’; Kim Kardashian and conflicts of interest; scandal costs millions in grants

COVID-19-vitamin D paper retracted by Springer Nature journal

A journal has retracted a 2021 paper claiming that vitamin D “significantly reduced the inflammatory markers associated with COVID-19 without any side effects” following criticism that led them to “no longer have confidence in the conclusions.” The paper “Impact of daily high dose oral vitamin D therapy on the inflammatory markers in patients with COVID … Continue reading COVID-19-vitamin D paper retracted by Springer Nature journal

Authors blame ‘unintentional oversight’ for including image of deceased patient in paper

The authors of a case report involving a patient who died of a rare disorder of the bone marrow have removed an image from the article after the person’s mother objected to the use of the photograph.  The paper, “Dyskeratosis congenita,” appeared in Autopsy Case Reports in 2020 and was written by a group from … Continue reading Authors blame ‘unintentional oversight’ for including image of deceased patient in paper

Hundreds of dead rats, sloppy file names: The anatomy of a retraction

It all started – as more and more retractions do – with a post on PubPeer, this one in November 2021. The comment was about a paper titled “Efficient in vivo wound healing using noble metal nanoclusters” that had appeared in Nanoscale in March of that year:  Figure 5: There is an overlap between two … Continue reading Hundreds of dead rats, sloppy file names: The anatomy of a retraction

Researchers in China send a hospital “declaration” clearing them of fraud. A journal doesn’t buy it.

If the writers of “Welcome Back, Kotter” wanted to issue a retraction statement, it might look something like this one from Mary Ann Liebert. We’ll call this one a hat tip to Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein, a Sweathog whose permission slips “from his mother” became a meme. The paper in question appeared … Continue reading Researchers in China send a hospital “declaration” clearing them of fraud. A journal doesn’t buy it.

Weekend reads: Plagiarism in biblical scholarship; revelations about publishing ‘lab leak’ preprint; publishing sanctions on Russia

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Einstein fired researcher in 2019, more than two years before ORI finding Firing, publishing ban, 15 retractions for author who ‘defrauded’ co-authors in pay-to-publish scheme Five studies linked to Cassava Sciences retracted Doing the … Continue reading Weekend reads: Plagiarism in biblical scholarship; revelations about publishing ‘lab leak’ preprint; publishing sanctions on Russia