At a snail’s pace: Species rediscovered, but paper on its disappearance remains

biology lettersA few weeks ago, in Weekend Reads, we highlighted the story of a snail species, thought to have gone extinct thanks to global warming, that had been rediscovered.

Now, as first reported by The Scientist, the journal in question has addressed the issue.

Here’s the story: In 2007, Biology Letters published a paper by Justin Gerlach describing the extinction of the Aldabra banded snail. But as journal editor Richard Battarbee notes: Continue reading At a snail’s pace: Species rediscovered, but paper on its disappearance remains

Journal expresses concerns over “possible data irregularities” in paper from Army medical center docs

JAADThe Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology has issued an expression of concern about a 2012 article reporting the experience of military burn unit treating a rare ailment called toxic epidermal necrolysis.

According to the notice, which is behind a paywall (for shame!), the paper appears to have overstated the number of cases the hospital itself has treated of the life-threatening condition: Continue reading Journal expresses concerns over “possible data irregularities” in paper from Army medical center docs

Neuroscientist who threatened to sue Science-Fraud.org, retracted two papers is out at Tufts

Domnez_Gizem
Gizem Donmez, via Tufts

Gizem Donmez, a neuroscientist who has retracted two papers from Cell and the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is no longer in her position at Tufts University, Retraction Watch has learned.

A Tufts spokesperson confirmed the news for us yesterday: Continue reading Neuroscientist who threatened to sue Science-Fraud.org, retracted two papers is out at Tufts

Authors retract HER-2 endometrial cancer paper for 2x publication

OGSFile this one under strange excuses.

A cancer paper was retracted on September 17 for a double publication. According to the notice in which the authors admit to duplicating the “opening to the readers,” which we assume is the introduction, there was no need to cite the article “because it had not yet been printed at that time.”

Here’s the notice for “The effect of HER-2 polymorphism according to age on the risk and pathologic feature of endometrial cancer”: Continue reading Authors retract HER-2 endometrial cancer paper for 2x publication

“Several scientific errors” sink physics paper after rewrite opportunity

canadian journal of physicsWe don’t love this somewhat incoherent retraction for a paper on coherent states, although luckily the publisher was prompt with telling us a little more about what happened.

On October 2, a 2008 physics paper, “Generation of a superposition of coherent states in a resonant cavity and its nonclassicality and decoherence,” was retracted for “several scientific errors,” pointed out by a comment published in the same journal. The original authors rewrote the paper, but it was not up to the standards of Canadian Journal of Physics, so it was rejected, and the original was retracted.

Here’s the notice: Continue reading “Several scientific errors” sink physics paper after rewrite opportunity

PubPeer Selections: PubPeer comments lead to Science correction; crystal structure in triplicate

pubpeerHere’s another installment of PubPeer Selections: Continue reading PubPeer Selections: PubPeer comments lead to Science correction; crystal structure in triplicate

Ripping off someone else’s thesis sinks paper on chicken temperatures

ISB_IJBProof that people will plagiarize anything they think they can get away with: a Brazilian scientist plagiarized a masters’ student’s thesis on the surface temperature of chickens.

We spoke with International Journal of Biometeorology editor-in-chief Scott Sheridan about the case: Continue reading Ripping off someone else’s thesis sinks paper on chicken temperatures

How meta: Paper on errors retracted for “too many stupid mistakes”

Measurement-in-Physical-Education-and-Exercise-ScienceA paper published in Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science has been retracted for statistical and typographical mistakes.

Here’s the notice for “Comparing Measurement Error Between Two Different Methods of Measurement of Various Magnitudes”: Continue reading How meta: Paper on errors retracted for “too many stupid mistakes”

Asthma study yanked for serious ethical violations

springerplusA paper in SpringerPlus on treating asthma with antioxidants was retracted on September 25 for something of a trifecta of ethical problems.

The retraction notice indicates that the patients never consented, there was no ethical review, and the university supposedly overseeing the study had no knowledge of it:

Continue reading Asthma study yanked for serious ethical violations

European Science Foundation demands retraction of criticism in Nature, threatens legal action

Amaya Moro-Martin
Amaya Moro-Martin

The European Science Foundation (ESF) has threatened legal action against a scientist for calling an evaluation process supported by the agency “flawed” in a commentary piece in Nature.

Amaya Moro-Martin, an assistant astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and an associate research scientist at The Johns Hopkins University, apparently angered the ESF with the bolded phrase below: Continue reading European Science Foundation demands retraction of criticism in Nature, threatens legal action