Thrombosis Research has removed an abstract after all seven authors authors listed did not know that it had been submitted for publication. We’ve seen many instances of some authors not being in on a submission, but a case in which all of the authors are in the dark? That’s new to us. A spokesperson for Elsevier, the journal’s … Continue reading How does an abstract get published without any of the authors knowing?
A paper about using solar energy to make water potable has been flagged for citing God. The shout-out isn’t subtle; in fact, it’s the first sentence of the Introduction in “Solar still with condenser – A detailed review:” Water is a gift from God and it plays a key role in the development of an … Continue reading Paper calls water “a gift from God”
The editor of Desalination has retracted a paper that plagiarized from another article published in the same journal six years earlier. The papers describe desalination systems, of course. This retraction happened on a relatively quick timeline: The paper, “An integrated optimization model and application of MEE-TVC desalination system,” was published online in June, and pulled in January. Here’s … Continue reading Desalination journal let a plagiarized paper — from the same journal — through its filter
A paper on a hybrid algorithm turned out to be a hybrid itself — some original data, plus some from a paper that the authors had published earlier. According to the retraction note, the overlap was significant enough to pull it from the scientific record. The retracted paper describes an algorithm that is the combination of a “genetic … Continue reading Algorithm paper retracted for “significant overlap” with another
The list of co-authors on a paper about a “bioelectronic composite” was apparently too sparse. According to its retraction note — posted at the request of the editor-in-chief and the corresponding author — the paper failed to include some of the collaborators. The Biosensors & Bioelectronics paper looks at a protein complex that could function as part of … Continue reading Journal retracts bioelectronics paper for lack of credit to collaborators
The week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the retraction of “the Creator” paper, but we also reported on a scientist under investigation losing a grant, and a case brewing at a New Jersey university. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
A chemistry journal has issued a retraction after “a thorough and time-consuming analysis” revealed two out of four authors did not agree to submitting an article published in May, which also contains “considerable overlap and redundancy” with another paper published a few weeks prior in a different journal. Shortly after the paper appeared in Spectrochimica Acta Part … Continue reading Author dispute, “considerable overlap” retract chemistry study
The editor in chief of Vaccine has removed a paper suggesting a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine can trigger behavioral changes in mice. The note doesn’t provide any reason for the withdrawal, although authors were told the editor asked for further review. Two co-authors on the paper — about Gardasil, a vaccine against HPV — have previously suggested … Continue reading Journal temporarily removes paper linking HPV vaccine to behavioral issues
A journal is Journals are retracting three papers after a biomaterials researcher duplicated his own work, sometimes using the same figures to describe different experiments. Two of the papers are on bone regeneration; one is about targeting tumors. In addition to issues with figures, two one of the retraction notes explain that the papers contain “widespread plagiarism of text” … Continue reading Journals retracts three bone papers for duplication by same author
A psychiatric journal has pulled a 2014 paper that found electroconvulsive therapy and exercise helped people with depression, after the authors determined they had mistakenly analyzed the wrong data. According to the retraction notice from the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the researchers had “erroneously analyzed” data from a previous study they had published the year … Continue reading Authors used wrong dataset in study on shock therapy, exercise in depression