Search Results for: doing the right thing

Journal grounds paper on radiation exposure in air traffic controllers because it was “published inadvertently”

The Indian Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine has retracted a 2013 article by a pair of researchers who’d claimed to find that air traffic controllers suffer poor health from exposure to microwave radiation. But that turns out to have been an, um, flight of fancy. The article, “Adverse health effects of occupational exposure to … Continue reading Journal grounds paper on radiation exposure in air traffic controllers because it was “published inadvertently”

Psychology researcher explains how retraction-causing errors led to change in her lab

Last month, we brought you the story of two retractions by Yale’s Laurie Santos because the team discovered errors in the way the first author had coded the data. That first author, Neha Mahajan, took full responsibility for the coding problems, according to the retraction notices, and a university investigation cleared her of any “intentional, … Continue reading Psychology researcher explains how retraction-causing errors led to change in her lab

Following up: Pamela Ronald publishes updated data following two retractions

Last year, we wrote about two retractions by Pamela Ronald and colleagues, after the group found that a bacterial strain they’d been using was contaminated. The group has now published a paper in PeerJ following their investigation into what went wrong. Ronald tells us the new paper, titled “The Xanthomonas Ax21 protein is processed by … Continue reading Following up: Pamela Ronald publishes updated data following two retractions

“Stupid, it should not be done that way”: Researcher explains how duplications led to a retraction

More than two years ago, we wrote about a retraction for duplication in Biophysical Journal prompted by an email from pseudonymous whistleblower Clare Francis. That post generated a robust discussion, including one comment from someone calling himself or herself “Double Dutch.” This past weekend, the last author of that paper, Rienk van Grondelle, left a … Continue reading “Stupid, it should not be done that way”: Researcher explains how duplications led to a retraction

Fraud topples second neuroscience word processing paper

We have a second retraction from a group of neuroscience researchers in Belgium who discovered fatal errors in their work on how the brain sets about the task of reading written language. Spoiler alert: Turns out those errors weren’t errors after all. As we reported back in May, the group, from the University of Leuven, … Continue reading Fraud topples second neuroscience word processing paper

Dutch economist Nijkamp embroiled in plagiarism and duplication scandal

The Dutch papers are reporting that Peter Nijkamp, one of the leading economists in The Netherlands, has been embroiled in what looks like a self-plagiarism scandal following the cancellation of a thesis defense by one of his graduate students because of plagiarism. We say “what looks like” because it’s tough to figure out what’s alleged … Continue reading Dutch economist Nijkamp embroiled in plagiarism and duplication scandal

Retraction prompts letter of explanation by co-author — and a legal threat against Retraction Watch

The European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging has an interesting exchange of retraction-related notices in its pages. The article, “Neuroradiological advances detect abnormal neuroanatomy underlying neuropsychological impairments: the power of PET imaging,” appeared in 2011 and was written by Benjamin Hayempour and Abass Alavi, one of the pioneers in PET imaging. According to … Continue reading Retraction prompts letter of explanation by co-author — and a legal threat against Retraction Watch

Harvard student publication retracts article saying Jews deserve punishment because “they killed Jesus”

A Harvard student publication has retracted an article arguing that Jews deserved the persecution they’ve received for 2,000 years because they “killed Jesus.” (We’ll do a few conflict of interest disclosures, if just for the hell — oops — of it: Harvard is Ivan’s alma mater, and both of us are well, Jews. We note, … Continue reading Harvard student publication retracts article saying Jews deserve punishment because “they killed Jesus”

Citing “scientific dishonesty,” Danish board calls for retraction of controversial paper on decline of Western civilization

The Danish Committees for Scientific Dishonesty (DCSD) is calling for the retraction of a politically sensitive article by Helmuth Nyborg, a controversial Danish  psychologist, over concerns about referencing and authorship. The 2011 paper, “The Decay of Western Civilization: Double Relaxed Darwinian Selection,” appeared in Personality and Individual Differences, a prestigious journal in the field, and … Continue reading Citing “scientific dishonesty,” Danish board calls for retraction of controversial paper on decline of Western civilization

No, math prof, Google isn’t a proper literature search (and don’t plagiarize your dead mentor)

Sometimes, it’s easiest and most straightforward if we just let retraction notices sink in before we comment on them. Take this one from Semigroup Forum, signed by Chong-yih Wu of National Pingtung Institute of Commerce, Pingtung, Taiwan: