Search Results for: authorship

What’s the difference between plagiarism and “unintended and unknowing breach of copyright?”

In our work here at Retraction Watch, we’ve seen a number of euphemisms for plagiarism. (See slides 18-22 of this presentation for a selection.) Today, in following up on a case we covered last month, we’ve learned of a new way to avoid saying the dreaded p-word. We reported in June that sex researcher Willibrord … Continue reading What’s the difference between plagiarism and “unintended and unknowing breach of copyright?”

Bad Memory? Repressed sexual abuse memory paper retracted for data inconsistencies

The journal Memory has retracted a paper on repressed sexual abuse after a protracted dispute between the authors and an institutional investigation in The Netherlands that led to no findings of misconduct against the first author, Elke Geraerts  — a rising star in the field of social psychology. (The title of hers TEDx talk, by … Continue reading Bad Memory? Repressed sexual abuse memory paper retracted for data inconsistencies

Gravity paper yanked for plagiarism by another name

The Journal of Theoretical and Applied Physics has retracted a 2012 paper by a pair of Iranian cosmologists who failed to adequately cite one of the critical references on which they based their work. We think that falls under the broader category of plagiarism — after all, as Heisenberg famously postulated, the same text cannot simultaneously … Continue reading Gravity paper yanked for plagiarism by another name

French journal retracts nanomedicine paper for ethics violations, more

The French journal Biologie Aujourd’hui — Biology Today — has retracted an article it published earlier this year after learning of ethics violations,  authorship issues with the paper and a problematic image. The article, titled “Utilisation de dendrimères pour une nanomédecine innovatrice,” or “Using dendrimers for an innovative nanomedicine,” was written by Jean Pierre Majoral … Continue reading French journal retracts nanomedicine paper for ethics violations, more

Author break prompts retraction of bone protein paper

The European Journal of Pharmacology has — against its will, it would seem — retracted a 2012 paper by a group of Chinese heart researchers embroiled in a what appears to be a rather messy authorship dispute. The article, “The effect of alendronate on the expression of osteopontin and osteoprotegerin in calcified aortic tissue of … Continue reading Author break prompts retraction of bone protein paper

One-too-many authors scuttles paper on mouse metabolism

Regulatory Peptides is retracting a 2010 paper by a group of five authors in China and one in Texas — and the presence of that last one was the problem. The article, “Erythropoietin as a possible mechanism for the effects of intermittent hypoxia on bodyweight, serum glucose and leptin in mice,” had as its last … Continue reading One-too-many authors scuttles paper on mouse metabolism

“Conflicts among the authors” force retraction of Talanta paper

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

Who deserves to be an author on a scientific paper?

Although authorship issues are not the most common reason we see for retractions, they’re one of the most vexing. We’ve seen multiple cases in which papers are retracted because colleagues say authors didn’t have a right to publish data, for example. In other cases, authors who didn’t know about a paper are surprised when it … Continue reading Who deserves to be an author on a scientific paper?

Paper — with longest title ever? — retracted for lack of author approval

The journal Inorganica Chimica Acta has retracted a paper it published earlier this year over an authorship dispute involving the lead researcher and his colleagues in France. The title of the paper — whose bulk alone gave us a headache  — was “Reaction of a bidentate ligands (4,4′-dimethyl 2,2′-bipyridine) with planar-chiral chloro-bridged ruthenium: Synthesis of … Continue reading Paper — with longest title ever? — retracted for lack of author approval

Med student loses paper when former boss claims right to data

As a first-year medical student at the University of California, San Diego, Jessica Tang already has an impressive CV. Her name has appeared on ten papers in the medical literature, including three in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine. On one of these she was the sole author. Except that one doesn’t exist anymore. But the … Continue reading Med student loses paper when former boss claims right to data