A Federal court in California has ruled in favor of the popular training program CrossFit in its lawsuit against a nonprofit group — a competitor in fitness training — awarding the workout company nearly $4 million in sanctions. Why are you reading about this case on Retraction Watch, you might ask? Well, at the heart … Continue reading Crossfit wins $4 million sanction in lawsuit stemming from now-retracted paper
A team of researchers in Saudi Arabia, led by an ex-pat from Johns Hopkins University, has lost three papers for problems with the images in their articles. The three retractions pushed the journal — which has become a “major retraction engine” for reasons we explain here and here — over 100 for 2019. In December, … Continue reading PLOS ONE retracts a paper first flagged in 2015 — and breaks the 100 retraction barrier for 2019
A team of physicists in India has notched their third retraction for problematic images and other issues that also have prompted at least four corrections of their work. The authors, Sk. Shahenoor Basha, of the Solid State Ionics Laboratory at KL University in Guntur, and M.C. Rao, of Andhra Loyola College in Vijayawada, have lost … Continue reading ‘A satisfactory explanation was not provided’: Physicists in India lose third paper
The Images in Clinical Medicine section of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is prime real estate for physicians and others wanting to share a compelling picture with their colleagues. But earlier this month, an eye specialist in Michigan saw double when he looked at the Dec. 5, 2019, installment of the feature. Depicted … Continue reading How a plagiarized eye image in the NEJM was discovered
Journal stings come in various shapes and sizes. There are the hilarious ones in which authors manage to get papers based on Seinfeld or Star Wars published. There are those that play a role in the culture wars. And then there are some on a massive scale, with statistical analyses. That’s how we’d describe the … Continue reading A ‘stress test’ for journals: What happened when authors tried to republish a Nature paper more than 600 times?
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: The top retractions of 2019; Two retractions and three corrections … Continue reading Weekend reads: 100 fake professors; study on police killings retracted; false data won’t scuttle company buyout
Here’s an expression of concern that raised some eyebrows around the Retraction Watch HQ.
A Dutch university has found a former psychology researcher at the institution guilty of misconduct for several offenses, including lack of ethics approval for some of her studies and fabricating results in grant applications. In a Nov. 11, 2019, report, officials at the University of Leiden stated that the researcher, whom it does not identify, … Continue reading Psychology researcher committed misconduct, says university
Two researchers from Japan — Jun Iwamoto and the late Yoshihiro Sato — have slowly crept up our leaderboard of retractions to positions 3 and 4. They have that dubious distinction because a group of researchers from the University of Auckland the University of Aberdeen, who have spent years analyzing the work. As their efforts continue, … Continue reading ‘We badly need to change processes’: How ‘slow, opaque and inconsistent’ journals’ responses to misconduct can be
A team of researchers in Iran has lost a 2018 paper on using emu oil to prepare stem cells because they tried to recycle previously published images. The journal told us that a whistleblower had raised concerns about the article, prompting an involved back-and-forth with the authors and even efforts at accommodation before the eventual … Continue reading Authors “in shock” when image reuse doesn’t fly with publishers of paper on emu oil and stem cells