Search Results for: elsevier

“The results were so perfect” — and now they’re being retracted

Recently, François-Xavier Coudert, a researcher at the Research Institute of Chemistry of Paris in France, noticed something strange: A nearly perfect image in a chemistry paper, with none of the typically expected “noise.” Last week, he started a thread on PubPeer, alerting readers to his concerns — namely, that a microscopy image showed hexagons with … Continue reading “The results were so perfect” — and now they’re being retracted

Cardiovascular researcher in Taiwan logs four retractions

A researcher has earned four retractions following an investigation at his institutions in Taiwan. The retraction notices, which appear in Clinical Science, mention investigations into the work of Kou-Gi Shyu at the Shin-Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital and Taipei Medical University (TMU). Shyu is listed as being affiliated with both institutions in the original papers, but … Continue reading Cardiovascular researcher in Taiwan logs four retractions

Cancer biologist says Nature journal “censored” his News & Views, retracts it

A cancer biologist has retracted a 2016 News & Views article in a Nature journal, alleging that the journal tried to censor his writing by asking him to remove passages that criticized another journal (Cell).  Carlo Croce, the sole author of the article in Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology from Ohio State University in Columbus, described the … Continue reading Cancer biologist says Nature journal “censored” his News & Views, retracts it

Journal flags paper at center of authorship dispute

A journal has issued an expression of concern (EOC) for a nanofilm paper after a researcher protested being left off the author list.  According to the notice in Carbohydrate Polymers, the University of Calcutta in West Bengal, India, where the research was carried out, has “failed to provide evidence of a thorough, fair, and proper … Continue reading Journal flags paper at center of authorship dispute

Child psychiatrist flagged for misconduct loses two more papers

A child psychiatrist has lost two papers after an institutional investigation concluded that she intentionally misrepresented children’s medication history in her research. In November 2015, we reported on a retraction for Mani Pavuluri in the Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience following a probe at the University of Illinois at Chicago, her institution, which concluded that there was a … Continue reading Child psychiatrist flagged for misconduct loses two more papers

A paper on chemical safety was accepted one day after submission. Was it peer reviewed?

Some scientists raise their eyebrows when they see a paper was accepted only a day or two after being submitted — which is exactly what happened during an academic debate over a controversial topic: e-cigarettes. In 2015, a group of Harvard researchers published a paper in Environmental Health Perspectives suggesting the flavoring added to e-cigarettes could be … Continue reading A paper on chemical safety was accepted one day after submission. Was it peer reviewed?

Weekend reads: Data sharing fees block access; Machiavellianism and gossip in science; “power pose” redux

The week at Retraction Watch featured a look at where retractions for fake peer review come from, and an eyebrow-raising plan that has a journal charging would-be whistleblowers a fee. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Physics journal retracts paper without alerting author

An Elsevier journal has angered an author by removing his study without telling him. After spending months asking the journal why it removed the paper — about a heavily debated theorem in physics — and getting no response, the author threatened to seek damages from the journal and publisher for “permanently stigmatizing” his work. Yesterday, an Elsevier … Continue reading Physics journal retracts paper without alerting author

1st retraction for researcher who lost whistleblower lawsuit

A researcher who was dismissed from Wayne State University — then lost a whistleblower lawsuit against it — has logged his first retraction. In 2012, after Christian Kreipke was dismissed from Wayne State, he filed a lawsuit, alleging that the institution had defrauded the U.S. government of $169 million in research funding. A judge dismissed the case in 2014, … Continue reading 1st retraction for researcher who lost whistleblower lawsuit

Cell Press won’t retract papers despite one author confessing to fraud

Cell Press journals will not be retracting two papers that were flagged with expressions of concern (EOCs) in April after one author claimed to have manipulated some experiments. In a strange turn of events, as we previously reported, the study’s corresponding author refuted the claims of the author who confessed to fraud, citing concerns about … Continue reading Cell Press won’t retract papers despite one author confessing to fraud