Search Results for: medical

Paper suggesting vitamin D might protect against COVID-19 earns an expression of concern

PLOS ONE has issued an expression of concern for a paper it published last month suggesting that vitamin D might protect against severe COVID-19.  Central to the concerns is that the authors seem to have been too far out over their skis in asserting a link between the vitamin and the response to the infection. … Continue reading Paper suggesting vitamin D might protect against COVID-19 earns an expression of concern

Journal flags — but does not retract — decades-old paper on “correcting” gender identity

A psychology journal has expressed concern about a 46-year-old paper which described attempts to correct “deviant” gender identity in a 5-year-old boy using physical violence — the latest example of journals purging (or semi-purging) their pages of offensive studies.  The 1974 article, “Behavioral treatment of deviant sex‐role behaviors in a male child,” appeared in the … Continue reading Journal flags — but does not retract — decades-old paper on “correcting” gender identity

Researcher faked the names of Duke and University of Chicago co-authors

A medical journal has retracted two papers by a researcher with a penchant for fabricating co-authors. According to the Singapore Medical Journal and earlier news reports, Shunjie Chua published the articles with two fictitious authors: Mark Pitts and Peter Lamark, whom he placed at Duke University and the University of Chicago.  The articles, “A simple, … Continue reading Researcher faked the names of Duke and University of Chicago co-authors

“I do wish that journal editors would not take six years to perform an investigation and to retract.”

In July 2014, Elisabeth Bik notified PLOS ONE that she’d found three papers in the journal by a group of researchers who had clearly manipulated figures in the articles.  More than six years later, the journal has finally retracted the publications.  The authors were affiliated with the Fourth Military Medical University in Shaanxi, China. The … Continue reading “I do wish that journal editors would not take six years to perform an investigation and to retract.”

Weekend reads: How retracted work continues to spread; claims of PhD thesis plagiarism in the wine industry; Brexit and research integrity

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: Researchers face disciplinary action as dozens of their studies fall … Continue reading Weekend reads: How retracted work continues to spread; claims of PhD thesis plagiarism in the wine industry; Brexit and research integrity

The bizarre anti-vaccine paper a Florida professor has been trying to have retracted to no avail

Fly, meet elephant’s back. Robert Speth has spent the last 19 months trying to get two of the world’s largest medical publishers to retract an article he considers to be a “travesty” of pseudoscientific claims and overtly anti-vaccination bias. In the process, he has uncovered slipshod management of a journal’s editorial board that angered, among … Continue reading The bizarre anti-vaccine paper a Florida professor has been trying to have retracted to no avail

In which a researcher named Das plagiarizes from another researcher named Das, one with 20 retractions

Sometimes things get pretty meta around here.  Exhibit A: The journal Current Medical Chemistry has retracted a 2012 paper for plagiarizing from a 2011 article — and the senior authors of each article share the same last name.  Ho hum, you say. But that name is one that might be familiar to RW readers. Here’s … Continue reading In which a researcher named Das plagiarizes from another researcher named Das, one with 20 retractions

Researchers face disciplinary action as dozens of their studies fall under scrutiny

A group of obstetrics researchers in the Middle East is facing disciplinary action after questions were raised about the validity of the data in dozens of their published studies.  The tale — involving contaminated clinical trials, potentially fabricated PhDs, findings of misconduct that went ignored, accusations of terrorist sympathies and unresponsive journals — requires some … Continue reading Researchers face disciplinary action as dozens of their studies fall under scrutiny

30 years later, physics journal retracts paper that blamed feminism for many of society’s ills

For those of you who think that critiques of feminism have no place in journals about physics, the Canadian Journal of Physics agrees. But it took them 30 years to get there.  The journal has retracted a 1990 article by a notorious male chauvinist who claimed, among other things, that feminism was responsible for an … Continue reading 30 years later, physics journal retracts paper that blamed feminism for many of society’s ills

“This unfortunate situation”: Journal retracts bizarre paper about a black hole at the center of Earth

It was a paper that caught the attention — and bemusement — of Twitter: And now it is no more, along with four more articles from the Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences in what was billed as a special issue on Global Dermatology. Here’s the whole title: “A black hole at the center … Continue reading “This unfortunate situation”: Journal retracts bizarre paper about a black hole at the center of Earth