Prominent Harvard researcher issues second retraction, again citing duplication

The former president of the Joslin Diabetes Center has withdrawn a second article within a month of his first, and issued extensive corrections to another paper in the same journal, all due to figure errors. In November, we reported that Carl Ronald Kahn — also affiliated with Harvard Medical School — had pulled a highly cited 2005 … Continue reading Prominent Harvard researcher issues second retraction, again citing duplication

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 Now, two of the five papers, which were first flagged on PubPeer, have been retracted.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

Prominent researcher in Taiwan loses another paper for image duplication

In November, a vice president at an institution in Taiwan retracted a hotly debated cancer paper from Nature Cell Biology, citing image problems including duplications. Now, the Journal of Biological Chemistry has done the same, again citing image duplications. There are a few things to note about the latest retraction: One, the last author is again Kuo … Continue reading Prominent researcher in Taiwan loses another paper for image duplication

Authors in Spain issue string of corrections

Following a journal probe and questions on PubPeer about their work, authors in Spain have issued four corrections, citing missing raw data for experiments conducted more than 10 years ago. All papers include the same last two authors, Mireia Duñach at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Antonio García de Herreros at the Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions … Continue reading Authors in Spain issue string of corrections

Cancer researcher in Germany loses multiple papers after misconduct finding

A pathology journal is retracting two papers after an investigation at the last author’s institution in Germany found evidence of scientific misconduct. The notice for both papers cites an investigation involving Regine Schneider-Stock, who studies cancer biology at the Friedrich Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU). Meanwhile, another 2005 paper that lists Schneider-Stock as the first author was retracted … Continue reading Cancer researcher in Germany loses multiple papers after misconduct finding

EMBO journals retract figures in two papers missing source data

Journals published by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) have retracted a handful of figures in two papers with the same last and first authors. After some figures in the 2005 and 2007 papers were flagged on PubPeer and the authors couldn’t provide the original data, the journals decided to retract parts of the papers, … Continue reading EMBO journals retract figures in two papers missing source data

Harvard biologist retracts diabetes breakthrough in Cell

2013 probably felt like it was going to be a great year for stem cell biologist Douglas Melton at Harvard. He had published a buzz-worthy paper in Cell about a new way to potentially boost insulin in diabetics, attracting significant media attention, and eventually gathering nearly 200 citations. But 2016 is closing out on a less … Continue reading Harvard biologist retracts diabetes breakthrough in Cell

Weekend reads: The year’s top retractions; quoting Trump leads to a firing; life without Elsevier journals

This week at Retraction Watch featured revelations about a frequent co-author of the world’s retraction record holder, and a prison term for fraud. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

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

Bone researcher with lifetime funding ban earns third retraction

A researcher who received a lifetime funding ban for misconduct from a Canadian agency has logged her third retraction, after a re-analysis of her work unveiled “serious inconsistencies.” In July, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) released a report about Sophie Jamal, following an investigation by her former employer, The Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, Canada. … Continue reading Bone researcher with lifetime funding ban earns third retraction