The week at Retraction Watch featured a call to make peer reviews public, lots of news about Cornell food researcher Brian Wansink, and a request by the U.S. NIH that the researchers it funds don’t publish in bad journals. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
The presence of allegedly obvious manipulations in a 2017 chemistry paper has prompted a reader outcry. Over the last couple of days, a user on PubPeer and others on Twitter have accused the paper of containing clear duplications; the paper was already corrected in August, in which one scientist alleges the authors replaced “an obviously … Continue reading Scientist to chemistry journal: “Plse retract this ms ASAP”
PLOS ONE has retracted two 2014 papers from a group of researchers, after an institutional investigation confirmed image duplication. Although the authors initially asked to correct the figures in the two papers, they ultimately agreed with the decision to retract. Mrinal K. Maiti—an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur and corresponding author … Continue reading PLOS ONE retracts two papers one year after author says he okayed the move
A $10 million defamation suit filed by a Stanford University professor against a critic and a journal may be an assault on free speech, according to one lawyer, but at least it’s “well written.” Kenneth White, a lawyer at Southern California firm Brown White & Osborn who frequently blogs about legal issues related to free … Continue reading Lawyers call libel suit against journal and critic “lawless” but “well written”
Despite losing a lawsuit against his former mentor, a researcher hasn’t stopped his efforts to discredit his mentor’s work. These efforts have led to new editorial notices — including, most recently, a correction and expression of concern for one paper by a former colleague, who wasn’t even the subject of the lawsuit. In the 2014 … Continue reading More duplications for researcher accused of misconduct in lawsuit
Title: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, diet and gut microbiota What Caught Our Attention: The paper was co-authored by Carmine Finelli, who in the past took responsibility for a dramatic transgression: Stealing material from an unpublished manuscript by one of its reviewers. After the paper that stole from the manuscript was retracted in 2016, Finelli earned a second retraction … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: 4th retraction for peer reviewer who stole manuscript
Title: Characterization of a novel epigenetically-silenced, growth-suppressive gene, ADAMTS9, and its association with lymph node metastases in nasopharyngeal carcinoma What caught our attention: One year ago, a PubPeer user suggested an image from a 2008 paper looked similar to one from another paper. After the authors stated their belief in the soundness of the image, without … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Concerns about image in 2008 paper prompt editorial notice
Two journals are retracting papers published by researchers affiliated with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). To be frank, we’re baffled by most of this story. The retraction notices say “the institution” requested the retractions, but don’t name it; the first and last authors are also affiliated with the University of Southern California, as well as … Continue reading Unnamed institution makes baffling retraction requests, journals comply
When Retraction Watch began in 2010, our co-founders Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus quickly realized they couldn’t keep up with the hundreds of retractions that appeared each year. And the problem has only gotten worse — although we’ve added staff, the number of retractions issued each year has increased dramatically. According to our growing database, … Continue reading Caught Our Notice: Investigation finds “accidental mistakes” in PNAS stem cell paper
A journal is planning to retract a paper that purported to link a component of vaccines to autism in mice. The paper, about the effects of aluminum adjuvants in vaccines on the immune response in the brains of mice, is the second retraction for co-authors Christopher Shaw and Lucija Tomljenovic, of the University of British … Continue reading Journal to retract paper called “anti-vaccine pseudoscience”