Search Results for: authorship

Former postdoc threatens Retraction Watch with lawsuit over vague defamation claims

In April 2012, we wrote about a case of disputed authorship and misused data involving one Varun Kesherwani, a former postdoc at the University of Nebraska. As we reported then, Kesherwani was first author of a paper in Cytokine. The second author, Ajit Sodhi, of Banaras Hindu University, claimed to have had no knowledge of … Continue reading Former postdoc threatens Retraction Watch with lawsuit over vague defamation claims

Solvent paper dissolves under heat of institutional investigation

A chemical engineering paper published in February has been retracted for data and authorship problems. According to the retraction notice, the authors’ institutions investigated and found that not only was the data not reproducible, but “not all co-authors on the manuscript were aware of or agreed to the content and scientific conclusions in the article.” … Continue reading Solvent paper dissolves under heat of institutional investigation

This retraction has teeth: Journal changes publication policy after discovering misconduct

The Indian Society of Periodontology has changed their editorial policy as the result of an author who had “neither taken adequate permission from nor given due acknowledgement to all authors concerned.” Now, any authors will be required to sign a contract acknowledging accountability for the content of the submitted paper, as well as be able … Continue reading This retraction has teeth: Journal changes publication policy after discovering misconduct

Publishing gadfly demands journal editor’s resignation, then has “fairly incomprehensible” paper rejected

A scientific publishing gadfly who was banned earlier this year from an Elsevier journal for “personal attacks and threats” has had a paper rejected by a Springer journal after he called for the editor’s resignation because of alleged incompetence. As detailed in a comment left at Retraction Watch, Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva submitted a … Continue reading Publishing gadfly demands journal editor’s resignation, then has “fairly incomprehensible” paper rejected

Which countries have the most retractions, for which reasons?

One of the questions we often get — but are careful to answer with some version of “we don’t know because we don’t have a denominator” — is how retraction rates vary by scientific field and country. We’ve noticed that the reasons for retraction seem to vary among countries, but didn’t really have the data. … Continue reading Which countries have the most retractions, for which reasons?

Near “word-to-word” similarities topple microflora paper

The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine has retracted a 2012 paper by a group of pediatric gut researchers in Naples, Italy, who seemed to have had a visceral reaction to using their own words. The paper, “Composition and roles of intestinal microbiota in children,” sought to provide an update of the advantages of new-generation … Continue reading Near “word-to-word” similarities topple microflora paper