Search Results for: doing the right thing

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:

What happened to Joachim Boldt’s 88 papers that were supposed to be retracted?

CHICAGO — Almost two years after editors at 18 journals agreed in March 2011 to retract 88 of former retraction record holder Joachim Boldt’s papers, 10% of them hadn’t been retracted. That’s what Nadia Elia, Liz Wager, and Martin Tramer reported here Sunday in an abstract at the Seventh International Congress on Peer Review and … Continue reading What happened to Joachim Boldt’s 88 papers that were supposed to be retracted?

Ask Retraction Watch: Should these papers be retracted?

Last week, we reported on a new paper by Scripps Research Institute researchers in which they described how two of their previous papers had been based on mistaken interpretations. The authors wrote in their new paper that they were retracting the earlier works, but the journal had told them the papers would be corrected instead. … Continue reading Ask Retraction Watch: Should these papers be retracted?

French journal retracts nanomedicine paper for ethics violations, more

The French journal Biologie Aujourd’hui — Biology Today — has retracted an article it published earlier this year after learning of ethics violations,  authorship issues with the paper and a problematic image. The article, titled “Utilisation de dendrimères pour une nanomédecine innovatrice,” or “Using dendrimers for an innovative nanomedicine,” was written by Jean Pierre Majoral … Continue reading French journal retracts nanomedicine paper for ethics violations, more

Editor on retraction details: “I do not think this is the business of anyone but our journal, please”

Whose business are the reasons behind a retraction? Our readers will no doubt know by now that we think they’re basically everyone’s — at least if journals want us to believe that they’re interested in maintaining the integrity of the scientific record. But not all editors seem to agree. Hank Edmunds, for example, didn’t in … Continue reading Editor on retraction details: “I do not think this is the business of anyone but our journal, please”

Retraction for water researchers who ripped off dissertation

A pair of engineers at Hohai University in Nanjing, China, has lost their 2012 paper in the Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics. The reason: The article, “Study of the New Leon model for concrete failure,” wasn’t theirs to publish. According to the retraction notice (which is dated September 2013 but has already appeared in … Continue reading Retraction for water researchers who ripped off dissertation