You’ve been dupe’d: Results so nice, journals published them twice

With so many retraction notices pouring in, from time to time we compile a handful of straight-forward retractions. Once again, this list focuses on duplications — but unlike other duplications, these authors were not at fault. Rather, these retractions occurred because the publishers mistakenly published the same paper twice — the result of a transfer … Continue reading You’ve been dupe’d: Results so nice, journals published them twice

More than half of plant toxicity paper isn’t original, journal says

Plagiarism and duplication can be deadly to a paper in any dose. In the case of a study on the toxicity of nanoparticles to plants, the publisher has presented the precise amount of plagiarism and duplications that ultimately felled the paper. Specifically, according to Nanomaterials, 56% of “Potential Impact of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Exposure to the … Continue reading More than half of plant toxicity paper isn’t original, journal says

Beleaguered plant scientist with 22 corrections avoids 3 more

Cell will not be issuing corrections for three papers co-authored by prominent plant biologist Olivier Voinnet, after readers on PubPeer raised questions about some of the images.  The news may be a welcome relief for Voinnet, based at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who has recently issued 22 corrections and seven retractions. Ongoing questions about his work have also earned … Continue reading Beleaguered plant scientist with 22 corrections avoids 3 more

Cell Press dismisses fraud allegations in high-profile genetics papers

Cell Press has dismissed accusations of image manipulation in two well-cited papers.  In June 2015, we reported that the publisher was investigating anonymous allegations of more than a dozen instances of manipulation of images in the papers published in Cell and Molecular Cell in 1999 and 2001, respectively.  After assessing the original high-resolution versions of images from the laboratory notebook of … Continue reading Cell Press dismisses fraud allegations in high-profile genetics papers

Biologist with five-year funding ban earns 7th and 8th retractions

A biologist in New Jersey has retracted two more papers, bringing his total to eight retractions, following a finding by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI). The analysis of the work of John Pastorino, previously a cell biologist at Rowan University, in Glassboro, concluded that he had doctored more than 40 images, resulting in a five-year … Continue reading Biologist with five-year funding ban earns 7th and 8th retractions

Researcher denied PhD after “recklessly” committing misconduct

A doctoral student at the University of Houston in Texas will not receive his PhD, following an institutional investigation into his work. Mousa Abkhezr, the researcher in question, is no longer enrolled at the University of Houston, his former supervisor told us. In June, the probe into papers co-authored by Abkhezr resulted in the retraction … Continue reading Researcher denied PhD after “recklessly” committing misconduct

Romanian journal bans author following 4 retractions

A medical journal in Romania has issued a lifetime ban for a researcher after retracting four of his papers. Since April, the Romanian Journal of Internal Medicine (RJIM) retracted nine papers (eight for plagiarism, one for duplication); four of these were co-authored by Manole Cojocaru, a researcher at the Titu Maiorescu University (TMU) in Bucharest, Romania. Subsequently, … Continue reading Romanian journal bans author following 4 retractions

You’ve been dupe’d: Nice data — let’s see them again

As we’ve said before, with hundreds of retractions per year, there are simply too many for us to cover individually. So from time to time we’ll compile a list of retractions that appeared relatively straightforward, just for record-keeping purposes. Often, these seemingly straightforward retractions involve duplications, in which authors — accidentally or on purpose — … Continue reading You’ve been dupe’d: Nice data — let’s see them again

Four more retractions for biomaterials researcher brings total to 7

A biomaterials researcher has lost four more papers for figure-related issues such as duplications, bringing his total to seven retractions. We previously reported on three retractions — two by the Journal of Controlled Release (JCR) — of papers co-authored by Hossein Hosseinkhani, who is currently based at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology … Continue reading Four more retractions for biomaterials researcher brings total to 7

4th retraction for neuroscientist sentenced for fraud

A Parkinson’s researcher has earned his fourth retraction after receiving a two-year suspended sentence for fraud. The sentence for Bruce Murdoch, issued on March 31, 2016, came following an investigation by his former employer, the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia, into 92 papers. Murdoch entered guilty pleas for 17 fraud-related charges, which resulted in the retraction … Continue reading 4th retraction for neuroscientist sentenced for fraud