Search Results for: pubpeer

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

A researcher sued critics of his work. Now he has 13 retractions.

A cancer researcher who sued PubPeer commenters for criticizing his work has lost six more papers, bringing his total to 13 retractions.  Four of the new retraction notices issued by the journal Cancer cite an investigation at Wayne State University in Michigan into the work of Fazlul Sarkar and some of his colleagues. All the new notices, including the other two … Continue reading A researcher sued critics of his work. Now he has 13 retractions.

“Great shock and sadness:” Publishing gadfly to retract paper for duplication

A vociferous advocate for correcting the literature — who has been banned by two publishers for his persistent communications — has asked journals to retract one paper and correct three others for duplications. After a reader flagged his 2004 paper on PubPeer last month, author Jaime Teixeira da Silva “immediately” contacted the journal to alert it that … Continue reading “Great shock and sadness:” Publishing gadfly to retract paper for duplication

1st retraction for cancer researcher who doctored data in 11 studies

A cancer journal has retracted a paper co-authored by a researcher who falsified or fabricated data in 11 studies, according to an investigation by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). In December 2015, an ORI probe into the work of Girija Dasmahapatra concluded that he had …duplicated, reused, and/or relabeled Western blot panels and mouse … Continue reading 1st retraction for cancer researcher who doctored data in 11 studies

“We should err on the side of protecting people’s reputation:” Management journal changes policy to avoid fraud

How can academic journals ensure the integrity of the data they publish? For one journal, the key is looking deeply at statistics, which revealed crucial problems in the research of recent high-profile fraudsters such as Anil Potti. Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Management, Patrick Wright from the University of South Carolina, recently authored an editorial about how he’s … Continue reading “We should err on the side of protecting people’s reputation:” Management journal changes policy to avoid fraud

Authors pull Mol Cell paper for “inappropriate manipulation” of data

The authors of a Molecular Cell paper have retracted it due to issues with multiple figures — including one with evidence of “intentional misconduct.” According to the authors’ institution, IMIM in Barcelona, all co-authors are aware of the retraction. The penultimate author — Antonio García de Herreros — retracted three papers in May from the Journal of Biological Chemistry for … Continue reading Authors pull Mol Cell paper for “inappropriate manipulation” of data

Images that raised eyebrows flagged by another journal; Malaysian gov’t investigates

Multiple investigations have been launched into allegations of blatant duplications by a research group in Malaysia. Last week, users alleged on Twitter that three papers by the same team included pictures of cells that were copied and pasted. First author Nima Samie, affiliated with University of Malaya in Malaysia, denied the accusations — but both the Malaysian … Continue reading Images that raised eyebrows flagged by another journal; Malaysian gov’t investigates

Authors reused images in three papers, concludes journal probe

Biologists are retracting three papers after the journal concluded they contain reused images, designed to represent different experiments. The authors stand by the conclusions, some of which they say have been “extensively validated.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry used image analysis software to evaluate the images, first published at least a decade ago. Unfortunately, the raw … Continue reading Authors reused images in three papers, concludes journal probe

Epilepsy researcher gets retraction, correction after former colleague flags work

Epilepsy researcher Toni Schneider has received a retraction and a correction in quick succession, after a former colleague raised red flags about the work.  The retraction for Schneider, based at the University of Köln in Germany, is for “unintentional inclusion of erroneous data” due to limitations of the recording system used in the paper, according to the … Continue reading Epilepsy researcher gets retraction, correction after former colleague flags work

Researcher who sued to stop retractions gets his sixth

A sixth retraction has appeared for a diabetes researcher who previously sued a publisher to try to stop his papers from being retracted. Mario Saad‘s latest retraction, in PLOS Biology, stems from inadvertent duplications, according to the authors.  Though an investigation at Saad’s institution — the University of Campinas in Brazil — found no evidence of misconduct, a critic … Continue reading Researcher who sued to stop retractions gets his sixth