This retraction has teeth: Journal changes publication policy after discovering misconduct

Screen Shot 2014-08-26 at 10.43.29 AMThe Indian Society of Periodontology has changed their editorial policy as the result of an author who had “neither taken adequate permission from nor given due acknowledgement to all authors concerned.”

Now, any authors will be required to sign a contract acknowledging accountability for the content of the submitted paper, as well as be able to state the specific work contributed by each author.

Here’s the notice from the Journal of the Indian Society of Periodontology: Continue reading This retraction has teeth: Journal changes publication policy after discovering misconduct

Language of a liar named Stapel: Can word choice be used to identify scientific fraud?

stapel_npcA pair of Cornell researchers have analyzed the works of fraudster Diederik Stapel and found linguistic tics that stand out in his fabricated articles.

David Markowitz and Jeffrey Hancock looked at 49 of the Dutch social psychologist’s papers — 24 of which included falsified data. (Stapel has lost 54 papers so far.)

According to the abstract for the article, “Linguistic Traces of a Scientific Fraud: The Case of Diederik Stapel,” which appeared in PLoS ONE: Continue reading Language of a liar named Stapel: Can word choice be used to identify scientific fraud?

“Our jaws hit the floor!!” Researchers say authors doctored images for rebuttal letter

eurourologyTry to follow along on this one. We think it’s worth it.

The authors of a letter replying to a comment in a urology journal have retracted their response because it contained inappropriate figures. At least, that’s the official story.

The original paper, “Effect of a Risk-stratified Grade of Nerve-sparing Technique on Early Return of Continence After Robot-assisted Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy,” came from a group at Weill Medical College of Cornell University led by Ashutosh Tewari. Published in July 2012 in European Urology, it purported to find that: Continue reading “Our jaws hit the floor!!” Researchers say authors doctored images for rebuttal letter

Incomplete reference helps editor find duplicate paper — and retract article

botswanaPro-tip: If you’re going to try to publish your work twice, don’t give editors a reason to go searching the internet for your previous work.

Here’s case in point, a retraction notice from the Botswana Journal of Agriculture & Applied Sciences: Continue reading Incomplete reference helps editor find duplicate paper — and retract article

“I am not a monster and I am not unreasonable:” Student attacks professor with axe after grant is cut

coimbraA physics graduate student at the University of Coimbra in Portugal attacked a professor with an axe earlier this month after losing a grant.

The student, Colin Paul Gloster, attacked physics lecturer Maria Filomena Santos, who according to the Irish Mirror will “require reconstructive surgery as the axe cut very close to the tendons.”

Speaking of the Irish Mirror story, Gloster tells Retraction Watch that “the main point that I axed someone is true.” But, he adds:

I am not a monster and I am not unreasonable.

According to the Irish Mirror: Continue reading “I am not a monster and I am not unreasonable:” Student attacks professor with axe after grant is cut

Wasted breath: Cribbing earns retraction of anesthesia paper

cbandbThe authors of a paper on anesthetic waste gases in the operating room have pulled the article for plagiarism.

The paper, titled “Further Pieces of Evidence to the Pulmonary Origin of Sevoflurane Escaping to the Operating Room During General Anaesthesia,” appeared in Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics and came from a group at various institutions in Harbin, China.

But according to the retraction notice, the further pieces weren’t really further, after all:
Continue reading Wasted breath: Cribbing earns retraction of anesthesia paper

New method sinks newish paper…or does it?

cover_2009_BB_viz_biomassThe timing on a recent retraction of a paper from Biotechnology and Bioengineering makes it a bit difficult to figure out what happened, but here’s a try.

An article first published online May 16th by a group of researchers at Brown University was retracted on June 1st, apparently because a new and better method for analyzing the data was developed…at some point.

The timeline is not exactly clear from the retraction, though we’ve reached out to the author and publisher and will update with any new information.

Here’s the (paywalled) notice for “High-level production of 3-hydroxypropionatein Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae by introducing part of the 3-hydroxypropionate/4-hydroxybutyrate cycle from Metallosphaera sedula”:

Continue reading New method sinks newish paper…or does it?

Weekend reads: Peer review abuse, a journal that will print anything for $1,200, PubPeer faces legal threats

booksAnother busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Continue reading Weekend reads: Peer review abuse, a journal that will print anything for $1,200, PubPeer faces legal threats

Journal that “suffered” from plagiarism purges itself

pharmpractWhen Pharmacy Practice found out it had been victimized by plagiarists, it apparently took the news personally — and to heart.

In an elaborate statement with more than a dozen references — but not one to the plagiarizing work — the journal lashed out against the behavior of word thieves, and described the discovery as a Road to Damascus moment.

Here’s the notice, which was published in 2012 but was only just indexed on PubMed:

Continue reading Journal that “suffered” from plagiarism purges itself

Diabetes researchers retract, correct and republish study on mortality rates

diabetologiaA diabetes paper that received quite a bit of media attention when it was published in June 2013 was retracted and reissued to fix data errors shortly after publication.

The paper, which showed a steep decline in mortality rates for diabetics in Ontario, Canada, and the UK between 1996 and 2009, was republished in December 2013, with the same conclusion and the errors corrected.

Here’s the retraction notice for “Mortality trends in patients with and without diabetes in Ontario, Canada and the UK from 1996 to 2009: a population-based study”: Continue reading Diabetes researchers retract, correct and republish study on mortality rates