Search Results for: sting

Weekend reads: A peer review murder mystery for Halloween; learning from #medbikini; inside the publishing ring that linked COVID-19 and 5G

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: Paper suggesting vitamin D might protect against COVID-19 earns an … Continue reading Weekend reads: A peer review murder mystery for Halloween; learning from #medbikini; inside the publishing ring that linked COVID-19 and 5G

Amulets may prevent COVID-19, says a paper in Elsevier journal. (They don’t.)

Sometimes, we just don’t know what to say. So we’ll let the people of Twitter comment on a paper titled “Can Traditional Chinese Medicine provide insights into controlling the COVID-19 pandemic: Serpentinization-induced lithospheric long-wavelength magnetic anomalies in Proterozoic bedrocks in a weakened geomagnetic field mediate the aberrant transformation of biogenic molecules in COVID-19 via magnetic … Continue reading Amulets may prevent COVID-19, says a paper in Elsevier journal. (They don’t.)

Researchers publish the same COVID-19 paper three times

If you’re looking for more evidence that researchers are flooding the zone with COVID-19 papers that do little to advance the state of the science, we present Psychology, Health & Medicine.  The journal, a Taylor & Francis title, in April published “Mental health burden for the public affected by the COVID-19 outbreak in China: Who … Continue reading Researchers publish the same COVID-19 paper three times

Widely cited COVID-19-masks paper under scrutiny for inaccurate stat

You probably read a story or heard a news report over the past few days saying that if nearly all Americans wore masks to prevent COVID-19 spread, 130,000 lives could be saved by the end of February. That’s what a paper published on Friday says. But it turns out that figure sounds twice as good … Continue reading Widely cited COVID-19-masks paper under scrutiny for inaccurate stat

Journal flags — but does not retract — decades-old paper on “correcting” gender identity

A psychology journal has expressed concern about a 46-year-old paper which described attempts to correct “deviant” gender identity in a 5-year-old boy using physical violence — the latest example of journals purging (or semi-purging) their pages of offensive studies.  The 1974 article, “Behavioral treatment of deviant sex‐role behaviors in a male child,” appeared in the … Continue reading Journal flags — but does not retract — decades-old paper on “correcting” gender identity

Researcher faked the names of Duke and University of Chicago co-authors

A medical journal has retracted two papers by a researcher with a penchant for fabricating co-authors. According to the Singapore Medical Journal and earlier news reports, Shunjie Chua published the articles with two fictitious authors: Mark Pitts and Peter Lamark, whom he placed at Duke University and the University of Chicago.  The articles, “A simple, … Continue reading Researcher faked the names of Duke and University of Chicago co-authors

“I do wish that journal editors would not take six years to perform an investigation and to retract.”

In July 2014, Elisabeth Bik notified PLOS ONE that she’d found three papers in the journal by a group of researchers who had clearly manipulated figures in the articles.  More than six years later, the journal has finally retracted the publications.  The authors were affiliated with the Fourth Military Medical University in Shaanxi, China. The … Continue reading “I do wish that journal editors would not take six years to perform an investigation and to retract.”

Heard about the study claiming men who carry guitar cases are more attractive? It’s been retracted.

A controversial psychologist has lost a bizarre paper which claimed that men who carry guitar cases do better with the ladies. The article, which had appeared in the journal The Psychology of Music in 2014, was one of many papers by Nicholas Guéguen that have raised eyebrows among his peers and some data sleuths — … Continue reading Heard about the study claiming men who carry guitar cases are more attractive? It’s been retracted.

30 years later, physics journal retracts paper that blamed feminism for many of society’s ills

For those of you who think that critiques of feminism have no place in journals about physics, the Canadian Journal of Physics agrees. But it took them 30 years to get there.  The journal has retracted a 1990 article by a notorious male chauvinist who claimed, among other things, that feminism was responsible for an … Continue reading 30 years later, physics journal retracts paper that blamed feminism for many of society’s ills

Elsevier journal disavows, but does not retract, paper on intelligent design

An Elsevier journal has disavowed, but not yet retracted, a paper creationists are calling a “a big deal for the mainstreaming” of intelligent design.  The article, “Using statistical methods to model the fine-tuning of molecular machines and systems,” appeared in the September issue of the Journal of Theoretical Biology, but has been online since June. … Continue reading Elsevier journal disavows, but does not retract, paper on intelligent design