Search Results for: third party

A plagiarism loop: Authors copied from papers that had copied from others

Note to self: If you’re going to duplicate your own work, don’t copy from papers that plagiarize others’ research. Just such a mistake has cost a PhD candidate three papers — although his co-author argues that a company is in part to blame. Hossein Jafarzadeh, who is studying mechanical engineering at the University of Tehran, apparently asked a … Continue reading A plagiarism loop: Authors copied from papers that had copied from others

A retraction cluster? Two papers retracted for overlap with other retractions

A cluster of papers by different authors has been retracted for sharing text, even though some papers were submitted at the same time. How is that possible? A spokesperson for Springer told us that they have reason to believe a third-party company may have helped prepare the papers for publication, and in the process might have spread … Continue reading A retraction cluster? Two papers retracted for overlap with other retractions

UK doctor banned from practice after fabricating data in grant applications

A prominent cancer researcher in England has been banned from practicing medicine and has lost his funding from a UK charity after being found to have fabricated data in grant applications. The moves against the researcher, Thorsten Hagemann, come after investigations by the General Medical Council, akin to a U.S. state medical board, and Hagemann’s former … Continue reading UK doctor banned from practice after fabricating data in grant applications

Broken windows, threats, and detention: Is whistleblowing worth it?

Several years ago, a UK academic living in Thailand for decades decided to expose the fact that a Thai official had plagiarized his PhD thesis. And he’s paid the price. Last year, Wyn Ellis was held in a Thai airport for five days, as officials claimed he was a “danger to Thai society.” As some new … Continue reading Broken windows, threats, and detention: Is whistleblowing worth it?

Botanist pair’s paper retracted, others questioned on PubPeer

A plant sciences journal has pulled a 2016 paper for manipulated images after the study came under question at PubPeer. According to the notice, the authors claim that the images were supplied by a “service provider;” the editor-in-chief of the journal told us he doesn’t have any details on this third party’s identity. The first … Continue reading Botanist pair’s paper retracted, others questioned on PubPeer

Internet trolling paper published email without consent; retraction sparked lawsuit threat

When a paper was retracted earlier this year with an opaque notice, we set out to figure out why. We’re still not entirely clear of the reason, but we’ve uncovered one aspect of the paper that raised objections from another researcher: The paper, on internet trolling, included an email he sent without his permission. The retraction … Continue reading Internet trolling paper published email without consent; retraction sparked lawsuit threat

In major shift, medical journal to publish protocols along with clinical trials

A major medical journal has updated its instructions to authors, now requiring that they publish protocols of clinical trials, along with any changes made along the way. We learned of this change via the COMPare project, which has been tracking trial protocol changes in major medical journals — and been critical of the Annals of Internal Medicine‘s … Continue reading In major shift, medical journal to publish protocols along with clinical trials

Imposter edits journal in latest peer review scam

When a computer scientist approached a journal about editing a special issue, little did the journal know he — or she — was using a stolen identity. Before the jig was up, someone posing as a researcher named Xavier Delorme had edited three articles on optimization problems for The Scientific World Journal. The scammer used a fake email address, … Continue reading Imposter edits journal in latest peer review scam

How did two papers on same gene with different authors, publishers, end up with identical retraction notices?

Here’s an interesting case: We’ve found two retracted papers that describe the same gene, and both have nearly identical retraction notices. What’s unusual is that the two papers don’t have any authors in common, and appeared in two different journals published by two different companies. The cause of both papers’ demise: Plagiarism, and use of unpublished data … Continue reading How did two papers on same gene with different authors, publishers, end up with identical retraction notices?

Concerns attached to three more papers by retraction-laden management researcher

Fred Walumbwa, a management researcher with eight seven retractions, has received three expressions of concern from two journals after he failed to provide raw data following an investigation into potential errors. In the past, Walumbwa has said he only keeps data until his papers are published, but a lack of raw data has become a common theme in his notices, which … Continue reading Concerns attached to three more papers by retraction-laden management researcher