Weekend reads: Novartis fires scientist for faking data; journal accepts F-bomb-laden spam paper

The week at Retraction Watch began with a case of a South Korean engineer who had to retract ten studies at once. Here’s what was happening elsewhere, along with an update on a story we covered a few days ago:

At a snail’s pace: Species rediscovered, but paper on its disappearance remains

A few weeks ago, in Weekend Reads, we highlighted the story of a snail species, thought to have gone extinct thanks to global warming, that had been rediscovered. Now, as first reported by The Scientist, the journal in question has addressed the issue. Here’s the story: In 2007, Biology Letters published a paper by Justin … Continue reading At a snail’s pace: Species rediscovered, but paper on its disappearance remains

Weekend reads: Senator loses degree for plagiarism; bad colitis poetry; fraud on the big screen

The week at Retraction Watch featured papers by a fake author with a brilliant if profane name, and the unmasking of fraudster Diederik Stapel as a sock puppet. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

“Crack Down on Scientific Fraudsters” — our op-ed in today’s New York Times

As Retraction Watch readers know, it’s very rare for a scientist to face criminal charges for fraud, and it’s also very rare for the National Institutes of Health to recoup grants found to have involved misconduct. Both have happened in the case of Dong-Pyou Han, the former Iowa State University researcher who spiked rabbit blood … Continue reading “Crack Down on Scientific Fraudsters” — our op-ed in today’s New York Times

Social psychologist Förster denies misconduct, calls charge “terrible misjudgment”

Retraction Watch has obtained an email from Jens Förster, the social psychologist in the Netherlands who, as Dutch media reported this week, was the target of a misconduct investigation at the University of Amsterdam. The inquiry led to the call for the retraction of a paper by Förster and a colleague, Markus Denzler, over concerns of … Continue reading Social psychologist Förster denies misconduct, calls charge “terrible misjudgment”

First retraction appears for Dutch anthropologist Mart Bax

Last September we wrote about the case of Mart Bax, an anthropologist once of the Free University in Amsterdam who allegedly fabricated elements in some of his papers, and claimed to have written more than 60 that do not exist: Bax, who studied an Irish town he called Patricksville, a Dutch pilgrimage site he called … Continue reading First retraction appears for Dutch anthropologist Mart Bax

Weekend reads: Impact factor mania, male scientists citing themselves, insecure careers in academia

Another busy week at Retraction Watch, which we kicked off by asking for your support. Have you contributed yet? Here’s what was happening elsewhere on the web: