This week at Retraction Watch featured revelations about a frequent co-author of the world’s retraction record holder, and a prison term for fraud. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
The week at Retraction Watch featured the story of a graduate student who fought back after being caught in the middle of a fraud case, and the retraction of a hotly debated paper from Nature Cell Biology. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
In March, 2013, a graduate student joined the lab of a prominent researcher in Australia, investigating new therapies for Parkinson’s. A few months later, everything fell apart. In September 2013, the University of Queensland (UQ) announced it was retracting one of the lab’s papers, returning the money used to fund the research and launching a … Continue reading A grad student was caught in the crossfire of fraud — and fought back
Last week, we learned a 2016 paper heavily discussed on PubPeer might be retracted — today, we learned that Nature Cell Biology has indeed pulled the paper, citing inappropriate image modifications. As we reported last week, a comment on PubPeer flagged as coming from an author said they had requested a retraction. A representative of National … Continue reading Nature Cell Biology retracts hotly debated cancer paper
A Nature Cell Biology paper published only a few months ago by prominent researchers in Taiwan has sparked a heated discussion on PubPeer, which now includes a comment allegedly from an author saying they have requested its retraction. Although a representative of the journal wouldn’t confirm to us that the authors had requested a retraction, … Continue reading Nature Cell Bio paper may be headed for retraction
If scientists are hesitant to formally report their colleagues when they suspect them of misconduct, can simply gossiping about their concerns in informal settings – at meetings, conferences, etc – clean up the literature? That’s a question Brandon Vaidyanathan and his colleagues tried to answer in “Gossip as Social Control: Informal Sanctions on Ethical Violations in … Continue reading Psst…did you hear? The effect of gossip on misconduct
We get email glitches from time to time, and some alerts don’t go out to readers. In cased you missed them, here are two posts from this week that didn’t make it into your inbox: Paper by troubled surgeon Macchiarini is flagged by a Nature journal over data concerns Cardiovascular researcher in Taiwan logs four … Continue reading Posts you may have missed: Macchiarini logs EoC, 4 retractions for cardiovascular researcher
A renewable energy researcher who recycled material in several papers — and has already agreed to withdraw 10 studies — has lost another paper. In January, we reported that six of 10 papers flagged by an investigation into author Shyi-Min Lu have either been retracted or withdrawn. Now, Lu has lost another paper that was not … Continue reading Renewable energy researcher with troubled record loses another paper
In many fields, first authors on scientific papers represent the person who’s performed the bulk of the research. Sometimes, that determination can be difficult to make, so we’ve seen many papers that list multiple first authors, noting that each contributed equally to the work. But is it possible — or ethical — to claim six authors … Continue reading Is it possible (or ethical) to have six first authors on a scientific paper?
The week at Retraction Watch saw news of a settled lawsuit, and had us celebrating our sixth anniversary with the announcement of a new partnership. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: