Search Results for: author ban

Weekend reads: Faked data in psychology; publishing in predatory journals = misconduct?; how scientists take criticism

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Seven barred from research after plagiarism, duplications in eleven papers … Continue reading Weekend reads: Faked data in psychology; publishing in predatory journals = misconduct?; how scientists take criticism

Apparent HeLa cell line mixup earns a paper an expression of concern

A journal has issued an expression of concern for a 2011 paper after recognizing that the researchers may have been using contaminated cell lines.  The article, “Downregulation of NIN/RPN12 binding protein inhibit [sic] the growth of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells,” appeared in Molecular Biology Reports, a Springer Nature title. In it, the authors, from China … Continue reading Apparent HeLa cell line mixup earns a paper an expression of concern

Researcher charged with abusing his wife has third paper retracted

A researcher in Canada whose once-brilliant career in kinesiology went from plaudits from his peers to criminal charges of horrific abuse of his wife has notched his third retraction.  As we reported in 2018, Abdeel Safdar, formerly of McMaster University and Harvard, where he was a postdoc, was the subject of an institutional investigation over … Continue reading Researcher charged with abusing his wife has third paper retracted

Seven barred from research after plagiarism, duplications in eleven papers

A retired Nepali professor and six others have been barred from research after plagiarism and duplicated images were found in 11 of their papers. Parashuram Mishra, a retired crystallographer at Tribhuvan University, in Nepal, is the lead author on all the studies. Most of the papers contain image duplications; the same figures were reused across … Continue reading Seven barred from research after plagiarism, duplications in eleven papers

Dismissive reviews: A cancer on the body of knowledge

Observers describe the quantity of research information now produced variously as “torrent,” “overload,” “proliferation,” or the like. Technological advances in computing and telecommunication have helped us keep up, to an extent. But, I would argue, scholarly and journalistic ethics have not kept pace. As a case in point, consider the journal article literature review. Its … Continue reading Dismissive reviews: A cancer on the body of knowledge

Meet the medical resident who had his wife peer review five of his papers

The pantheon of husband-wife teams in science includes Marie and Pierre Curie, Gerty and Carl Cori, even Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, the founders of BioNTech, which collaborated with Pfizer on a Covid-19 vaccine.  To that list we hesitatingly add Ahmed Elkhouly and his spouse.  Elkhouly, a medical resident at St. Francis Medical Center, in … Continue reading Meet the medical resident who had his wife peer review five of his papers

University clears scientist of logging industry’s misconduct allegations

The University of Tasmania has cleared one of its scientists of wrongdoing after she was accused by the Australian logging industry of publishing flawed research linking logging to increased forest flammability and of having a conflict of interest with an environmental group. The university then implemented mandatory research integrity training for its school of geography, … Continue reading University clears scientist of logging industry’s misconduct allegations

Irony alert: stolen voices, relative rip-off

We’re always on the lookout for papers with that fillip of irony that lets us wonder if the Great Comedian in the Sky enjoys our little project. This week, we found two such articles. One involves a 2008 paper in the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research titled “Examining Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis as One of the Main … Continue reading Irony alert: stolen voices, relative rip-off

After grad student suicide, misconduct findings, university suspends professor

Nearly two years after a doctoral student hanged himself in a building on the campus of the University of Florida, in Gainesville, his supervisor has been placed on paid leave, a move that follows a report released last month that found evidence of misconduct at three different computing conferences. Huixiang Chen was found dead in … Continue reading After grad student suicide, misconduct findings, university suspends professor

Journal flags a dozen papers as likely paper mill products a year after sleuths identified them

A journal has issued a dozen expressions of concern over articles that a group of data sleuths had flagged last year on PubPeer as showing signs of having been cranked out by a paper mill.  The 12 articles were published between 2017 and 2019 in the International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology and were written … Continue reading Journal flags a dozen papers as likely paper mill products a year after sleuths identified them