Retraction Watch

Scientists whose papers were retracted and corrected leave University of Utah

Last year, we reported on two retractions and two corrections by a team at the University of Utah. The retractions were because “some of the original data were inappropriately removed from the laboratory.”

At the time, corresponding author Jerry Kaplan told us that:

The data were lost when an employee, who was dismissed, discarded lab notebooks without permission. This occurred prior to the identification of errors in the manuscripts and was reported at that time to the University authorities.

The university would not confirm whether it investigated the case. However, we have now learned that Continue reading Scientists whose papers were retracted and corrected leave University of Utah

Paper on vulvar tumor retracted. Why? Journal won’t say

Cancer of the vulva may well be a topic most people do not want to discuss. But we wish the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease (the official journal of several societies, including the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, the Australian Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and the Society of Canadian Colposcopists) had been a bit more forthcoming about its retraction of a 2013 paper on the subject.

The article, “Granular Cell Tumor of the Vulva,” appeared in the January issue of the journal from a group whose last last author was Sofia Vázquez Navarrete, a pathologist at La Línea de la Concepción, in Cádiz, Spain.

Its abstract stated: Continue reading Paper on vulvar tumor retracted. Why? Journal won’t say

Apply sunblock, repeat: Duplication forces retraction of paper on sun exposure among teens

beach — David Saddler via Flickr http://bit.ly/QjnRnH

A group of researchers in Greece has lost a paper that they published twice.

Here’s the notice from Rural and Remote Health:
Continue reading Apply sunblock, repeat: Duplication forces retraction of paper on sun exposure among teens

Diederik Stapel settles with Dutch prosecutors, won’t face jail time

Diederik Stapel, the former Tilburg University psychology professor who has retracted 53 papers because he made up the data, has settled with Dutch prosecutors, who began a criminal probe of his case last year.

Stapel will do 120 hours of community service, and decline disability and illness benefits that would have added up to 18 months’ worth of salary, according to reports in the Dutch press. Apparently, it helped his case that he had voluntarily given up his PhD.

A rough translation by a Retraction Watch reader: Continue reading Diederik Stapel settles with Dutch prosecutors, won’t face jail time

Come again? “Penile Strangulation by Metallic Rings” retracted for duplication

The Indian Journal of Surgery, a Springer-Verlag title, has retracted a 2011 paper with a title only the Marquis de Sade would love: “Penile Strangulation by Metallic Rings.”

We know what you’re saying: Who knew penises could be strangulated? Well, it’s true.

Continue reading Come again? “Penile Strangulation by Metallic Rings” retracted for duplication

Former Duke researcher charged with embezzlement has a paper retracted

A new retraction notice in the Journal of Applied Physiology gives only a hint at the problems in the paper, but what it does say has led us to a story about one of its co-authors.

Here’s the notice, from a team at Duke: Continue reading Former Duke researcher charged with embezzlement has a paper retracted

Autism genetics papers retracted after fraud inquiry at NY research agency

A fraud investigation at a New York state research institution has led to two retractions of papers looking at genetic links to autism.

The 2011 papers, which appeared in Genes, Brain and Behavior, involve work conducted at the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities’ (OPWDD’s) Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, on Staten Island. The last author on both articles is Xiaohong Li, head of the institute’s cellular neurobiology laboratory.

Here’s what the retraction notice has to say: Continue reading Autism genetics papers retracted after fraud inquiry at NY research agency

Cell line mixup causes retraction of paper on blood vessel damage

We’ve written before about retractions for cell lines that turn out not to be what researchers thought they were. In a few cases, that has involved contamination by HeLa cells, named for Henrietta Lacks. Today, we note the retraction of a paper whose authors, from Taiwan, thought they were using human muscle cells that line blood vessels when they were actually studying such cells from rat embryos.

Here’s the notice in the British Journal of Nutrition for “Molecular mechanism of green microalgae, Dunaliella salina, involved in attenuating balloon injury-induced neointimal formation”: Continue reading Cell line mixup causes retraction of paper on blood vessel damage

Cost-sharing paper that shared too much with other works earns retraction

The journal Higher Education Policy has retracted an article it published last year by a scholar in Ethiopia whose grasp of publishing policy seems pretty shaky.

The article, “Financing Higher Education in Ethiopia: Analysis of Cost-Sharing Policy and its Implementation,” which appeared online in August 2012, was by Sewale Abate Ayalew, of Bahir Dar University College of Business and Economics.

According to the retraction notice:
Continue reading Cost-sharing paper that shared too much with other works earns retraction