A group of researchers conducted a clinical trial on hundreds of hypertensive patients. Then, they published the results…six times. The “nearly identical” papers came to our attention via a retraction in Inflammation. Editor in chief Bruce Cronstein explained how he learned of the mass duplication: The editors were contacted en masse by somebody doing a Cochrane Review … Continue reading “Exactly the same clinical study” published six times
A lung cancer paper in the International Journal of Cancer has been retracted because of “serious errors related to image duplication.” This marks the eighth retraction for first author, ShouWei Han. The decision was made by the journal’s editor-in-chief, the publisher Wiley and co-author Jesse Roman (a co-author on Han’s other retracted papers). According to the notice, … Continue reading Eighth retraction published for former physiology researcher
In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Plant has flagged a 2004 article that was “accidentally” duplicated from another paper published earlier that year — but did so in the form of a publisher’s erratum, not a retraction. The editor of the journal justified the decision by arguing that the duplicated paper had been cited “over a … Continue reading Retracting duplicated paper “may damage the integrity of the literature,” says plant journal editor
Two biologists have retracted a second paper on the development of neurons, but that’s about all we know. The 2007 paper from the Journal of Biological Chemistry, “The Interaction of mPar3 with the Ubiquitin Ligase Smurf2 Is Required for the Establishment of Neuronal Polarity,” concerns the role of a protein, mPar3, in neuron development. It has been cited … Continue reading JBC retraction on neuron development marks second for two biologists
High-profile plant biologist Olivier Voinnet has been suspended for two years from the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) following the results of two investigations that revealed a number of issues in his publication record. An investigation at ETH Zurich found that the scientist “breached his duty of care in the handling of figures as well as in … Continue reading High-profile biologist is suspended after two investigations found he “breached his duty of care”, committed “misconduct”
Noriyuki Takai, a gynecologic cancer researcher in Japan, has notched one more retraction — bringing the total to eight — due to figures that were “processed inappropriately” and did “not accurately report the original data.” According to the notice, Takai alone put the figures together in the 2006 Oncology paper, which tested a histone deacetylase … Continue reading Gynecologic cancer researcher earns eighth retraction
The hits keep coming for University of Maryland researcher Anil Jaiswal. The latest retraction for the cell biologist is in Cancer Research, for a 2007 paper about ways in which the cell tries to protect the tumor suppressor p53. Like the first Jaiswal retraction we covered, the latest notice specifically taps figure duplication as the … Continue reading Fourth retraction appears for cancer researcher Anil Jaiswal
A duplicated figure has resulted in an expression of concern for a paper in the American Journal of Pathology on a treatment for ocular neovascularization, which causes vision loss. According to the notice, the corresponding author, David Shima, now at University College London, brought his concern to the journal. He called it a “genuine error” and … Continue reading “Genuine error” sees expression of concern for vision loss paper
News elsewhere about scientific integrity, publishing, and related issues abounded this week:
A former Vanderbilt University biomedical engineer committed fraud on a massive scale, according to a new Office of Research Integrity (ORI) report. Igor Dzhura is banned from receiving federal funding for three years, and is retracting six papers, which have been cited more than 500 times. Since leaving Vanderbilt, he has worked at SUNY Upstate … Continue reading Updated: Former Vanderbilt scientist faked nearly 70 images, will retract 6 papers: ORI