Search Results for: elisabeth bik

In 1987, the NIH found a paper contained fake data. It was just retracted.

Ronald Reagan was president and James Wyngaarden was director of the National Institutes of Health when a division of the agency found 10 papers describing trials of psychiatric drugs it had funded had fake data or other serious issues.  Thirty-five years later, one of those articles has finally been retracted.  A 1987 report by the … Continue reading In 1987, the NIH found a paper contained fake data. It was just retracted.

Weekend reads: Whistleblowers win a victory; a look at COVID-19 retractions; journals as sewage treatment plants

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Paper by gene therapy Zolgensma developer retracted because of discrepancies in mouse survival rates Med school vice dean says he’s correcting paper amid negative misconduct inquiry A grad student finds a ‘typo’ in a psychedelic … Continue reading Weekend reads: Whistleblowers win a victory; a look at COVID-19 retractions; journals as sewage treatment plants

Dental school dean up to five retractions for cancer research papers

A dental school dean with a history of publishing cancer research papers is up to five retractions.  Russell Taichman, the dean of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s school of dentistry, lost two papers in Cancer Research earlier this month, after losing three others since 2020. Most of the retractions came after PubPeer comments about … Continue reading Dental school dean up to five retractions for cancer research papers

Didier Raoult papers earn expressions of concern as criminal investigation gets underway

A leading microbiology society has issued expressions of concern for four six papers from a group in France led by the controversial scientist Didier Raoult, whose lab is under investigation by the  University of Aix Marseille for “serious malfunctions.”  The move follows the release last month of a 157-page report by investigators related to France’s … Continue reading Didier Raoult papers earn expressions of concern as criminal investigation gets underway

Brain tumor researchers retract paper from Science journal

A brain tumor researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, has retracted a paper from Science Translational Medicine, and is a co-author on an article that another journal is examining.  The problems in both papers, and several others with shared authors, came to light via comments on PubPeer by Elisabeth Bik and a pseudonymous … Continue reading Brain tumor researchers retract paper from Science journal

Chinese hospital sanctioned at least 35 scientists for research misconduct

Retractions are rolling along for numerous scientists affiliated with the Jining First People’s Hospital in Shandong, China, who were sanctioned in December for research misconduct such as tampering with data and fabricating research.   For example, one article, “Lycium barbarum polysaccharides alleviates oxidative damage induced by H2O2 through down-regulating microRNA-194 in PC-12 and SH-SY5Y cells,” which … Continue reading Chinese hospital sanctioned at least 35 scientists for research misconduct

A tale of (3)2 retraction notices: On publishers, paper mill products, and the sleuths that find them

Should publishers acknowledge the work of sleuths when their work has led to retractions? We were prompted to pose the question by a recent retraction from International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics of a 2021 paper. The notice reads:

Exclusive: PLOS ONE to retract more than 100 papers for manipulated peer review

In March, an editor at PLOS ONE noticed something odd among a stack of agriculture manuscripts he was handling. One author had submitted at least 40 manuscripts over a 10-month period, much more than expected from any one person.  The editor told the ethics team at the journal about the anomaly, and they started an … Continue reading Exclusive: PLOS ONE to retract more than 100 papers for manipulated peer review

Japanese university recommends five retractions after investigating botany researcher

Kyoto University is recommending retraction for five papers by a former botany researcher there after an institutional inquiry turned up evidence of fraud.  The investigation of Lianwei Peng, who left the school in May 2011, found 11 images had been manipulated in the papers, according to a press release. The corresponding author on all five … Continue reading Japanese university recommends five retractions after investigating botany researcher

Extensive correction adds to five flagged papers for UPenn professor

A UPenn professor now has six papers with a correction, expression of concern, or retraction in two PLOS journals after one published an extensive correction to a 2018 paper.  The correction adds to two retractions and three expressions of concern for papers in PLOS Pathogens and PLOS ONE with Erle Robertson, a microbiology professor and … Continue reading Extensive correction adds to five flagged papers for UPenn professor