Weekend reads: $1.5 million payout after failure to disclose conflicts; systematic review retractions; entire class penalized for cheating

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a year-ed tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Publisher retracts 14 papers by doctor who ran afoul … Continue reading Weekend reads: $1.5 million payout after failure to disclose conflicts; systematic review retractions; entire class penalized for cheating

Texas bone researcher faked data in Nature paper, says federal watchdog, as university rescinds professorships

A pharmacologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center who lost a highly cited 2014 paper in Nature for questions about the integrity of her data has been sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) — and UT Southwestern has rescinded two professorships she previously held. According to ORI, Yihong Wan, an … Continue reading Texas bone researcher faked data in Nature paper, says federal watchdog, as university rescinds professorships

Publisher retracts 14 papers by doctor who ran afoul of U.S. FDA for marketing supplements

Dove Press last week retracted 14 papers by Marty Hinz, a Minnesota doctor who caught the attention of the U.S. FDA years ago for hyping supplements sold by a company he once owned. The 14 articles — on the use of supplements to treat conditions ranging from Crohn’s disease to Parkinson’s disease — were among … Continue reading Publisher retracts 14 papers by doctor who ran afoul of U.S. FDA for marketing supplements

Weekend reads: Prof sues journal, school after demotion following retraction; researcher fired after questioning why school rejected grant; the authors who like ‘publish or perish’

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Legal researcher up to 23 retractions for false affiliations, plagiarism … Continue reading Weekend reads: Prof sues journal, school after demotion following retraction; researcher fired after questioning why school rejected grant; the authors who like ‘publish or perish’

Journal expresses concern — we think — about papers by Surgisphere founder

More than six months after two of the world’s leading medical journals retracted papers on COVID-19 based on suspect data from a questionable company, a journal says it has cleared a raft of articles by the controversial founder of the firm. Or, has it?  Vascular, a SAGE title, says it has investigated all papers in … Continue reading Journal expresses concern — we think — about papers by Surgisphere founder

Weekend reads: p-hacking the US election; an apparently fake author sinks a stock; sued for using a research tool

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Western University materials scientist committed misconduct, according to investigation Public … Continue reading Weekend reads: p-hacking the US election; an apparently fake author sinks a stock; sued for using a research tool

Elsevier looking into “very serious concerns” after student calls out journal for fleet of Star Trek articles, other issues

An undergraduate student in the United Kingdom has taken to task the editors of a purportedly scholarly journal for having published more than 100 papers by a Maltese researcher with a deep affinity for Star Trek. In a Dec. 8, 2020, letter to the editors of Early Human Development (EHD), Hampton Gaddy, a BA student … Continue reading Elsevier looking into “very serious concerns” after student calls out journal for fleet of Star Trek articles, other issues

Weekend reads: Google AI researcher fired after being asked to retract paper; journal accused of stonewalling on paper “used to justify human rights violations;” reflecting on a COVID-19 retraction

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Stem cell researchers lose two more papers, making three A … Continue reading Weekend reads: Google AI researcher fired after being asked to retract paper; journal accused of stonewalling on paper “used to justify human rights violations;” reflecting on a COVID-19 retraction

Journal retracts 70-year-old article on homosexuality for “long discredited beliefs, prejudices, and practices”

We wrote in September in WIRED about a trend among journals of purging racist and sexist work from their archives. To that trend we can now add papers that are homophobic and racist. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease has retracted a 1951 article by one Benjamin H. Glover, at the time a professor … Continue reading Journal retracts 70-year-old article on homosexuality for “long discredited beliefs, prejudices, and practices”

Johns Hopkins student newspaper deletes, then retracts, article on faculty member’s presentation about COVID-19 deaths

A student newspaper at Johns Hopkins has retracted an article claiming that COVID-19 has had “relatively no effect on deaths in the United States.” The article, “A closer look at U.S. deaths due to COVID-19” (link from the Wayback Machine) was published on November 22 and relied on a presentation by Genevieve Briand, assistant program … Continue reading Johns Hopkins student newspaper deletes, then retracts, article on faculty member’s presentation about COVID-19 deaths