Carlo Croce, Ohio State researcher facing misconduct allegations, suing New York Times for defamation

Carlo Croce, a cancer researcher at The Ohio State University who has faced numerous allegations of research misconduct, has filed a lawsuit against the New York Times, claiming the newspaper defamed him in a March 8 story. Croce filed the civil suit May 10, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, … Continue reading Carlo Croce, Ohio State researcher facing misconduct allegations, suing New York Times for defamation

Author who previously claimed plagiarism was a mistake earns new erratum

A biotechnology journal has corrected a 2006 paper after discovering duplication and plagiarism. This offense is the second we know of for the corresponding author, Uttam Chand Banerjee, in the same journal, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. Last year, Banerjee—who works at National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Mohali, Punjab, India—had a 14-year-old review … Continue reading Author who previously claimed plagiarism was a mistake earns new erratum

Journal flags four papers by researcher in Spain over figure issues noted on PubPeer

A journal has issued expression of concerns (EOCs) for four papers after a concerned reader notified the editors of issues in several figures. According to the EOCs, the Journal of Cell Science (JCS) discussed the concerns with the corresponding author, José Ignacio Rodriguez-Crespo, and subsequently notified his institution, Complutense University of Madrid. Last year, all … Continue reading Journal flags four papers by researcher in Spain over figure issues noted on PubPeer

Author cops to “randomly” choosing data for figures in paper, colleagues say

On April 17th, Mathieu Bollen, a researcher at KU Leuven in Belgium, received a notice from PubPeer: A paper he had published in 2013 appeared to have data duplications. The article, “Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase (MELK) Reduces Replication Stress in Glioblastoma Cells,” published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, offered an explanation for why … Continue reading Author cops to “randomly” choosing data for figures in paper, colleagues say

Carlo Croce, OSU cancer researcher under investigation, retracts paper

A researcher whose work has come under repeated scrutiny has retracted a 2008 paper for “errors that occurred in the construction” of various figures. Carlo Croce, the corresponding author of the newly retracted paper, has been dogged by misconduct accusations for years — as recently described in the New York Times. His employer, The Ohio … Continue reading Carlo Croce, OSU cancer researcher under investigation, retracts paper

When is a citation not enough?

Last year, Boris Ratnikov was reading a paper and saw a familiar image. He quickly realized: The image was from a 2012 paper he’d written, but wasn’t cited. The 2016 Cell Metabolism paper he was reading had copied a figure from his 2012 PLOS ONE paper without referencing it.  In September 2016, Ratnikov, who is … Continue reading When is a citation not enough?

Case closed? Fired Pfizer researcher slated for seven retractions

Pfizer has discovered two additional papers that merit retraction from the lab of a former employee. One of the papers, published in Clinical Cancer Research, was retracted earlier this month. Last year, Pfizer requested retractions of five papers from the lab of breast cancer researcher Min-Jean Yin, who was fired after an investigation revealed image duplication. … Continue reading Case closed? Fired Pfizer researcher slated for seven retractions

Journal corrects paper by researcher sanctioned for misconduct

A biology journal has issued a correction to a 2014 paper by a researcher with 11 retractions, citing “inadvertent errors” that don’t affect the conclusions. The researcher, Rony Seger, was recently sanctioned by his institution (The Weizmann Institute in Israel) following a finding of “serious misconduct” involving data manipulation. Specifically, the institute barred him from … Continue reading Journal corrects paper by researcher sanctioned for misconduct

Third retraction for former rising star found guilty of misconduct

A once-prominent researcher in the field of infectious disease — who was found guilty of misconduct last year— has had a third paper retracted, a 2006 article in PNAS. Last year, the University of Dundee in Scotland found that Robert Ryan had committed research misconduct, which included misrepresenting clinical data and duplicating images in a … Continue reading Third retraction for former rising star found guilty of misconduct

Work by group at Australian university faces scrutiny

A journal is investigating research by a group in Australia, after receiving “serious allegations” regarding a 2017 paper about treating eye burns. The journal, Frontiers in Pharmacology, has issued an expression of concern (EOC) for the 2017 paper while it investigates. The notice does not specify the nature of the allegations.  Meanwhile, several other papers … Continue reading Work by group at Australian university faces scrutiny