For more than a decade, I have been working with colleagues to request retractions from editors and publishers for plagiarizing articles, mostly in my discipline of philosophy and related fields. But almost two years ago I requested a retraction from a seismology journal. Since I have no training in the science of earthquakes, how did … Continue reading A two-year drama: The anatomy of a retraction request
A study that found a way to deliver certain kinds of drugs more effectively in mice is being retracted today. The study, “Molecular targeting of FATP4 transporter for oral delivery of therapeutic peptide” was overseen by Haifa Shen at the Houston Methodist Research Institute and published in Science Advances on April 1. Several readers, including … Continue reading Drug delivery study with duplicated images is retracted
A group of researchers based at Harvard Medical School have retracted their 2019 paper in Nature after a data sleuth detected evidence of suspect images in the article. The move comes ten months after the journal first heard from the sleuth, Elisabeth Bik. The paper, “Fatty acids and cancer-amplified ZDHHC19 promote STAT3 activation through S-palmitoylation,” … Continue reading Figure “anomalies” prompt Harvard group to retract Nature paper
A Springer Nature journal has issued an editor’s note — which seems an awful lot like an Expression of Concern — for a widely circulated but quickly contested paper about how the novel coronavirus might infect white blood cells, akin to HIV. However, readers could be forgiven for missing that fact. Indeed, the journal itself appears … Continue reading A journal took three days to accept a COVID-19 paper. It’s taken two months and counting to retract it.
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: The withdrawal of a COVID-19 scoring tool based on Surgisphere … Continue reading Weekend reads: A wake-up call?; paper’s author accused of racism; an editor resigns over personal attacks
In April of this year, Corneel Vandelanotte realized something had gone wrong with a paper he had recently published. First, there was a post about his paper by Nick Brown, a scientific sleuth, questioning the results, ethics, and authors behind the work. That was followed by a comment on PubPeer by Elisabeth Bik, another scientific … Continue reading ‘How I got fooled’: The story behind the retraction of a study of gamers
On the heels of retractions of papers based on data that has fallen under intense scrutiny, an emergency medicine group in Africa is withdrawing a tool that they built using data from the same company. Lee Wallis, one of the editors in chief of the African Journal of Emergency Medicine, described the tool, built in … Continue reading Group withdraws COVID-19 scoring tool based on Surgisphere data following NEJM, Lancet retractions
A March paper by researchers at Imperial College London that, in the words of the Washington Post, “helped upend U.S. and U.K. coronavirus strategies,” cited a preprint that had been withdrawn. Retraction Watch became aware of the issue after being contacted by a PubPeer commenter who had noted the withdrawal earlier this month. Following questions … Continue reading Authors to correct influential Imperial College COVID-19 report after learning it cited a withdrawn preprint
The paper that appears to have triggered the Trump administration’s obsession with hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for infection with the novel coronavirus has received a statement of concern from the society that publishes the journal in which the work appeared. The April 3, 2020, notice, from the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, states that the … Continue reading Hydroxychloroquine-COVID-19 study did not meet publishing society’s “expected standard”
A trio of researchers in Argentina is up to three retractions, and may well lose even more papers, for doctoring their images. And, in an unusual move, one of the leading data sleuths is getting credit for her work helping to out the problematic figures. One article, “Apocynin-induced nitric oxide production confers antioxidant protection in … Continue reading “We thank Dr. Elisabeth Bik for drawing the irregularities to the authors’ attention.” A sleuth earns recognition.