Three more retractions for former record-holder Boldt, maybe more to come

Justus Liebig University in Germany has been investigating concerns that Joachim Boldt, number two on the Retraction Watch Leaderboard and now up to 92 retractions, may have “manipulated” more data than previously believed. Until now, the vast majority of Boldt’s retractions were thought to have involved inadequate ethics approval. However, new retraction notices for Boldt’s … Continue reading Three more retractions for former record-holder Boldt, maybe more to come

Eighth retraction published for former physiology researcher

A lung cancer paper in the International Journal of Cancer has been retracted because of “serious errors related to image duplication.” This marks the eighth retraction for first author, ShouWei Han. The decision was made by the journal’s editor-in-chief, the publisher Wiley and co-author Jesse Roman (a co-author on Han’s other retracted papers). According to the notice, … Continue reading Eighth retraction published for former physiology researcher

Serbian journal cleans house with 16 retractions and 2 corrections after investigation

Editors at the Archives of Biological Sciences, the official journal of Serbian Biological Society, have unleashed a flood of retractions and corrections as part of an effort to fix the mistakes of the former editorial board. The fixes – 16 retractions and two corrections, by our count – are in response to a formal investigation … Continue reading Serbian journal cleans house with 16 retractions and 2 corrections after investigation

Canadian researchers in legal battle over investigation object to third retraction

A third retraction — and a notice of concern — have emerged from the investigation into a husband and wife research team at the University of Toronto that found evidence of faked images and duplicated data. The problem, according to the latest retraction note for Sylvia Asa and Shereen Ezzat, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation: Portions of the … Continue reading Canadian researchers in legal battle over investigation object to third retraction

Retracting duplicated paper “may damage the integrity of the literature,” says plant journal editor

In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology – Plant has flagged a 2004 article that was “accidentally” duplicated from another paper published earlier that year — but did so in the form of a publisher’s erratum, not a retraction. The editor of the journal justified the decision by arguing that the duplicated paper had been cited “over a … Continue reading Retracting duplicated paper “may damage the integrity of the literature,” says plant journal editor

Cell biologist Hanna issues two errata; images mysteriously disappear from Imgur

Cell biologist Jacob Hanna, the highly cited stem cell researcher currently at the Weizmann Institute of Science,  has posted a long erratum for a 2005 paper in Blood for “inadvertent mistakes,” among other issues; soon after, Hanna’s team issued another erratum for a 2009 Cell Stem Cell paper. There’s more to tell: Last month, commenters … Continue reading Cell biologist Hanna issues two errata; images mysteriously disappear from Imgur

JBC retraction on neuron development marks second for two biologists

Two biologists have retracted a second paper on the development of neurons, but that’s about all we know. The 2007 paper from the Journal of Biological Chemistry, “The Interaction of mPar3 with the Ubiquitin Ligase Smurf2 Is Required for the Establishment of Neuronal Polarity,” concerns the role of a protein, mPar3, in neuron development. It has been cited … Continue reading JBC retraction on neuron development marks second for two biologists

JCI issues mega-correction for multiple myeloma paper

The Journal of Clinical Investigation has issued a lengthy correction to a paper about the role of the immune system in the progression and treatment response of multiple myeloma. The correction changes details from the name of an author to figure legends, and adds entire supplemental figures. Shortly after the paper’s publication on April 20th, commenters … Continue reading JCI issues mega-correction for multiple myeloma paper

High-profile biologist is suspended after two investigations found he “breached his duty of care”, committed “misconduct”

High-profile plant biologist Olivier Voinnet has been suspended for two years from the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) following the results of two investigations that revealed a number of issues in his publication record. An investigation at ETH Zurich found that the scientist “breached his duty of care in the handling of figures as well as in … Continue reading High-profile biologist is suspended after two investigations found he “breached his duty of care”, committed “misconduct”

Psych journal axes study of child molesters

A journal has issued a “notice of redundant publication” for a paper that used virtual reality to understand arousal patterns in child molesters — the result of “an unfortunate sequence of personal events relating to the first author.” The study, “Using immersive virtual reality and ecological psychology to probe into child molesters’ phenomenology,” was originally … Continue reading Psych journal axes study of child molesters