Saudi engineer loses second fresh water paper for plagiarism

renewableenergycoverLast month, we covered the retraction of a paper by A.M.K. El-Ghonemy, of Al-Jouf University in Saudi Arabia. The engineer now has a second retraction in the same journal, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews.

Here’s the notice for “Waste energy recovery in sea water reverse osmosis desalination plants, Part-1: Review”: Continue reading Saudi engineer loses second fresh water paper for plagiarism

Mitochondrial fission paper falls for fusing data from earlier work

brain research coverA team of neuroscientists in Japan has lost their 2012 article in Brain Research for duplicating elements of a figure from a paper they’d published earlier that year in another journal.

The article, “Dynamic changes of mitochondrial fission proteins after transient cerebral ischemia in mice,” came from a lab at Okayama University. The last author was Koji Abe. According to the retraction notice:

Continue reading Mitochondrial fission paper falls for fusing data from earlier work

“Conflicts among the authors” force retraction of Talanta paper

talantaTalanta, a journal serving the analytical chemistry community — we’d love to know how the name came to be — has retracted a 2013 article by a group of Indian researchers over an authorship dispute.

The paper, “Non-enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensor based on silver/silver oxide nano-rods reinforced with multiwall carbon nanotubes,” appeared in January, with the authors listed as Leila Shahriary, Santosh K. Haram and Anjali A. Athawale.

But according to the retraction notice:

Continue reading “Conflicts among the authors” force retraction of Talanta paper

Retraction Watch threatened with legal action…again

Ariel Fernandez, source: Wikipedia
Ariel Fernandez, source: Wikipedia

For the second time this month, Retraction Watch has been slapped with the threat of a lawsuit, this time Ariel Fernandez, whose work in BMC Genomics became the subject of a recent expression of concern.

Today, Fernandez emailed one of us (Adam) the following message:

Continue reading Retraction Watch threatened with legal action…again

Come see Retraction Watch in Calgary, Fort Collins, Montreal, New York, and Seattle

logoThe next several weeks are shaping up as busy ones for Retraction Watch, as we make appearances in three cities: Continue reading Come see Retraction Watch in Calgary, Fort Collins, Montreal, New York, and Seattle

Oops: Math journal retracts paper accepted by “accidental administrative error”

jmaaMath journal editors can add — but they can also subtract.

That’s what happened to a 2012 paper in the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications (JMAA), “On the fractional Ostrowski inequality with uncertainty.”

Here’s the notice: Continue reading Oops: Math journal retracts paper accepted by “accidental administrative error”

Duplicate publication of headache paper earns Expression of Concern, erratum

eottA 2003 paper is now subject to an Expression of Concern after its author reused a lot of its material in a 2007 paper.

Here’s the Expression of Concern for “New therapeutic target in primary headaches – blocking the CGRP receptor” by Lars Edvinsson of the University of Copehagen: Continue reading Duplicate publication of headache paper earns Expression of Concern, erratum

Researcher found by ORI to have committed misconduct earns back right to apply for Federal grants

bois
Philippe Bois

A former researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in  Memphis has won back the right to apply for Federal research funding despite a 2011 finding against him by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

Philippe Bois, a cancer researcher now working at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida, argued that the alleged misconduct in the ORI findings — which led to a three-year ban on applying for funding — was actually honest error. As Bois’s attorneys explained last year: Continue reading Researcher found by ORI to have committed misconduct earns back right to apply for Federal grants

“Conflicting investigations” prompt expression of concern in BMC Genomics

Source: Wikipedia
Ariel Fernandez, source: Wikipedia

BMC Genomics has issued an expression of concern for a 2011 paper by a prominent Argentine chemist, Ariel Fernandez, whose work covers several disciplines — “His research spans representation theory in algebra, physical chemistry, molecular biophysics, and more recently, molecular evolution and drug discovery” — and institutions. And therein lies the tale.

Fernandez appeared as the first author of the article, titled “Subfunctionalization reduces the fitness cost of gene duplication in humans by buffering dosage imbalances,” along with a pair of researchers from Taiwan. Fernandez’s affiliations were listed as being with the Instituto Argentino de Matemática “Alberto P. Calderón”, CONICET (National Research Council of Argentina), in Buenos Aires, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, and the Morgridge Institute for Research, in Madison, Wisc.

According to the abstract:

Continue reading “Conflicting investigations” prompt expression of concern in BMC Genomics

University of Virginia doctoral candidate plagiarizes in business ethics journal, but remains in program

j business ethicsWe’ve already reported on the retraction of a paper in a business ethics journal for plagiarism. Yes, plagiarism in an ethics journal. But it turns out there’s at least one more case of exactly the same thing, albeit in a different business ethics journal.

Here’s the notice from the Journal of Business Ethics: Continue reading University of Virginia doctoral candidate plagiarizes in business ethics journal, but remains in program