Journals pull two papers after blogger shares plagiarism suspicions

Journals have retracted two papers after they were flagged by a pseudonymous blogger, who suspected all had copied text from other sources. What’s more, a third paper seems to have simply disappeared from the journal’s website, after the blogger, Neuroskeptic, alerted the journal to the text overlap. Neuroskeptic became suspicious about the three unrelated papers – … Continue reading Journals pull two papers after blogger shares plagiarism suspicions

Journal retracts paper due to image mismatch; one co-author alleges fraud

Researchers have retracted a biology paper that included an image mismatch — despite the fact that, as they claim, another image in the same paper confirms the original findings. The authors say they plan to resubmit the paper with the corrected figure panel. The second to last author — Carlo Croce, chair of the department of … Continue reading Journal retracts paper due to image mismatch; one co-author alleges fraud

Breast cancer studies by fired Pfizer employee retracted

Last year, Pfizer fired one of its scientists following an investigation that ended with requests for retraction of five of her studies. Now, two of the five papers, which were first flagged on PubPeer, have been retracted. One notice cites the Pfizer investigation, which found that cancer researcher Min-Jean Yin had included duplicated images in all five … Continue reading Breast cancer studies by fired Pfizer employee retracted

Researcher loses 4th paper flagged by misconduct probe

A researcher in Germany has logged her fourth retraction following an investigation by her former employer that found evidence of scientific misconduct. The latest retraction for Tina Wenz in the Journal of Applied Physiology mentions the probe at the University of Cologne in Germany, which recommended retracting six of her papers. One had already been … Continue reading Researcher loses 4th paper flagged by misconduct probe

Journal cleans the house by retracting 6 cancer papers for plagiarism

Following an investigation, a genetics journal has pulled six cancer papers published this year for plagiarizing from other sources. According to an excerpt from the retraction notice in Genetics and Molecular Research, the journal has “strong reason to believe that the peer review process was [a] failure,” and has alerted the authors’ institutions. The notice … Continue reading Journal cleans the house by retracting 6 cancer papers for plagiarism

Researchers retract two well-cited papers for misconduct

A scientist in Germany has lost two papers that were collectively cited more than 500 times, after an investigation at her former university found her guilty of scientific misconduct. The probe into Tina Wenz by the University of Cologne in Germany, her former employer, recommended that six of her papers — which have induced some chatter on … Continue reading Researchers retract two well-cited papers for misconduct

High-profile Science paper retracted for misconduct

Science has retracted a high-profile immunology paper after a probe concluded the corresponding author had committed misconduct. The paper — which initially caught media attention for suggesting a protein could help boost the immune system’s ability to fight off tumors — has been under a cloud of suspicion since last year, when the journal tagged … Continue reading High-profile Science paper retracted for misconduct

UCLA lab pulls two papers — one by author who admitted to misconduct

A lab at the University of California, Los Angeles has retracted two papers for duplicated images. These retractions — in the Journal of Immunology — represent the second and third retractions for the lab head; he lost another paper after one of his former students confessed to manipulating images. Although Eriko Suzuki admitted to her actions … Continue reading UCLA lab pulls two papers — one by author who admitted to misconduct

Diabetes researcher loses prestigious professorship

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has announced today that it is withdrawing a professorship it awarded leading diabetes researcher Kathrin Maedler in 2014. In recent years, Maedler — based at the University of Bremen in Germany — has faced questions about her work, including allegations of duplication and image manipulation. So far, she has issued one retraction, … Continue reading Diabetes researcher loses prestigious professorship

University of Tokyo opens investigation into retracted stem cell paper

The University of Tokyo is investigating a 2011 stem cell paper in Cell Cycle, recently retracted over irregularities in four figures. The university has confirmed there is an investigation, but would not specify which paper it concerned; the corresponding author on the paper, however, confirmed to us that it is the focus of the investigation. … Continue reading University of Tokyo opens investigation into retracted stem cell paper