More than five months after outraged readers demanded that a Springer Nature journal retract a paper linking body mass index to honesty, the publication has been pulled. The journal now says that a post-publication review of the article found that the data don’t support the authors’ conclusions — which is another way of saying that … Continue reading Springer Nature journal retracts BMI, honesty paper
Welcome to the first Weekend Reads of 2021. 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: Medical writer … Continue reading Weekend reads: The backstory of a Nature retraction; an author salutes her favorite review of 2020; vaping-COVID-19 link questioned
A pharmacologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center who lost a highly cited 2014 paper in Nature for questions about the integrity of her data has been sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) — and UT Southwestern has rescinded two professorships she previously held. According to ORI, Yihong Wan, an … Continue reading Texas bone researcher faked data in Nature paper, says federal watchdog, as university rescinds professorships
A month after announcing it would be conducting a “priority” investigation into a November 17 paper that claimed women in science fare better with male rather than female mentors, Nature Communications has retracted the article. In the article, “The association between early career informal mentorship in academic collaborations and junior author performance,” the authors — … Continue reading Nature Communications retracts much-criticized paper on mentorship
A group of authors at Nagoya University and Kyoto University have retracted a 2019 Nature paper because of errors. Here’s the retraction notice:
A Nature journal has announced that it is conducting a “priority” investigation into a new paper claiming that women in science fare better with male rather than female mentors. The article, “The association between early career informal mentorship in academic collaborations and junior author performance,” appeared in Nature Communications on November 17, and was written … Continue reading Nature Communications looking into paper on mentorship after strong negative reaction
A neuroscientist once dubbed the “prince of panspermia” has lost a 2019 paper claiming that Venus may hold life seeded from Earth. The paper, titled “Life on Venus and the interplanetary transfer of biota from Earth,” was written by Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, whose affiliations have included outfits called Astrobiology Associates of Northern California San Francisco … Continue reading ‘Prince of panspermia’ has a paper retracted, and sues Springer Nature
A Springer Nature journal waited eight months to retract a paper flagged by the Office of Research Integrity for containing fabricated data — a delay the publisher blames on “staff changes and human error.” The 2014 article in Neuropsychopharmacology by Alexander Neumeister included “falsified and/or fabricated research methods and results,” according to the findings of … Continue reading Springer Nature journal takes eight months to retract paper after US government misconduct finding
What’s the link between obesity and dishonesty? If that question seems preposterous on its face, you’re probably among the critics of a 2020 paper in Scientific Reports which claimed to find that obese people were more deceptive than thinner folk. The researchers, led by Eugenia Polizzi di Sorrentino, of the Institute of Cognitive Science and … Continue reading Springer Nature ‘continuing to investigate the concerns raised’ about paper linking obesity and lying
Less than two weeks after publication, an essay on poverty and race which critics decried as “unscholarly” and “overtly racist” has been retracted. The essay, by Lawrence Mead, of New York University, appeared in the journal Society on July 21. It immediately drew the ire of hundreds of academics and advocates who, in a pair … Continue reading Springer Nature retracts paper that hundreds called “overtly racist”