Search Results for: images

Exclusive: King’s College London finds “poor research practices” but no misconduct in two recent cases

King’s College London (KCL) found evidence of poor research practices by three of its faculty, but “no intention to deceive” and no misconduct, according to documents obtained by Retraction Watch. One case involves work by cancer biologists Farzin Farzaneh and Ghulam Mufti, while the other involves work by Mahvash Tavassoli, also a cancer researcher. Both … Continue reading Exclusive: King’s College London finds “poor research practices” but no misconduct in two recent cases

Stem cell researchers have papers retracted for image manipulation

A group of dentistry researchers in Japan, whose work on stem cells has been the subject of an institutional investigation, have now lost two papers in PLOS ONE for image problems.  The authors, from Aichi Gakuin University in Nagoya, were led by Makio Mogi, a medicinal biochemist at the school. Mogi asked for at least … Continue reading Stem cell researchers have papers retracted for image manipulation

PLOS ONE realizes an academic editor had a conflict of interest that the publisher says it now tries harder to avoid

A group of genetics researchers in Italy has lost a 2014 paper in PLOS ONE for a range of image problems and a glaring conflict of interest.  The article, titled “Neuronal differentiation dictates estrogen-dependent survival and ERK1/2 kinetic by means of caveolin-1,” came from a team led by Luca Colucci-D’Amato, of the Second University of … Continue reading PLOS ONE realizes an academic editor had a conflict of interest that the publisher says it now tries harder to avoid

No ‘possible fraudulent explanation’: Frequent co-author tasked with clearing colleagues of image manipulation

A journal has allowed a group of researchers in Italy to correct a 2016 paper with questionable images after a faculty member in their institution — and a frequent co-author of the group’s — said his investigation found no reason to doubt their integrity.  The article, “Arg tyrosine kinase modulates TGF-β1 production in human renal … Continue reading No ‘possible fraudulent explanation’: Frequent co-author tasked with clearing colleagues of image manipulation

Hepatitis expert out at Chicago university following misconduct finding

A researcher who is now up to six retractions has left his faculty position at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science following a finding of research misconduct, Retraction Watch has learned. Gulam Waris, who studies hepatitis, has reused images across multiple papers, according to a retraction notice published this week in the Journal … Continue reading Hepatitis expert out at Chicago university following misconduct finding

Cancer lab at Harvard subject of inquiry

Harvard has investigated work from the lab of a cancer researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center that has been under scrutiny on PubPeer for more than five years. Questions about the output of the lab, run by James W. Mier, began appearing on PubPeer in 2014, with comments about images that looked manipulated. The … Continue reading Cancer lab at Harvard subject of inquiry

A researcher with 30 retractions and counting: The whistleblower speaks

Retraction Watch readers who have been following our coverage of retractions by Ali Nazari may have noticed that an anonymous whistleblower was the person who flagged the issues for journals and publishers. That whistleblower uses the pseudonym Artemisia Stricta, and we’re pleased to present a guest post written by him or her. Something is seriously … Continue reading A researcher with 30 retractions and counting: The whistleblower speaks

Drip, drip: Former Harvard stem cell researcher up to 18 retractions

Piero Anversa, a former star researcher at Harvard Medical School who left the institution under a cloud, is up to 18 retractions. But that’s barely half of the 31 papers by Anversa’s group that Harvard has requested journals pull over concerns about the integrity of the findings.  The two articles, published in the Proceedings of … Continue reading Drip, drip: Former Harvard stem cell researcher up to 18 retractions

Geology paper has a rocky road, is now retracted

The authors of a 2019 paper in PLOS One on rocks in China have retracted the article for “misrepresentation of the results and data.” The article, “Impacts of rock properties on Danxia landform formation based on lithological experiments at Kongtongshan National Geopark, northwest China,” was written by a group from Sun Yat-sen University and Hainan … Continue reading Geology paper has a rocky road, is now retracted

Nature walks back mentorship prize for Spanish scientist with nine retractions

Nature is rescinding an award to a Spanish researcher whose group has at least nine retractions for problems with their published images.  The journal in 2017 gave Carlos López-Otín, of the University of Oviedo, its mid-career achievement mentoring prize for Spanish scientists — along with a physicist from Barcelona — citing:  the ability of these … Continue reading Nature walks back mentorship prize for Spanish scientist with nine retractions