Ever wonder how editors figure out whether a paper should be corrected, retracted, or left as-is? For a window into that crucial decision-making process, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) publishes a number of anonymized cases per year, in which they weigh in on a dilemma faced by a journal editor. The organization has weighed … Continue reading What happens before a retraction? A behind-the-scenes look from COPE
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has permanently debarred a clinical trial coordinator from working on drug applications after he swapped patient stool samples for his own, and pocketed the money earmarked for patients — along with forging patient records, lab work, and doctors’ signatures. The debarment is moot for time being — last … Continue reading FDA bans trial coordinator who pocketed patient funds and went to prison
Environmental Geochemistry and Health has retracted two papers after an investigation suggested that the peer-review process had been compromised. In case you’re counting, we’ve now logged approximately 300 retractions stemming from likely faked or rigged peer review. The retraction note — which is the same for both papers — explains a bit more about the situation:
Without a certain protein, mouse sperm have motility disorders. That’s the conclusion of a paper that has itself been stopped — by errors in the data analysis, carried out by a third-party company. The retraction note pins the analysis, which led to faulty data, on a “corporate company.” Aside from the companies that sell the kits used for … Continue reading Sperm paper impaired by “corporate company” analysis
The week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the retraction of “the Creator” paper, but we also reported on a scientist under investigation losing a grant, and a case brewing at a New Jersey university. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
Totalitarianism and Democracy has removed a paper claiming that German Shepherds belonging to guards at the Berlin Wall descended from dogs used at concentration camps, after learning that the paper was a work of satire, The Guardian reports. The paper, and its author, are the creation of the anonymous group “Christiane Schulte and friends.” This isn’t the first hoax we’ve … Continue reading Death camp dog satire retracted when German journal wasn’t in on joke
About 13 hours after posting a satirical piece it posted at 2:00 AM today listing six hot media startups to watch in 2016, Al Jazeera America has retracted it. The satire? Al Jazeera itself is listed as #6, even though the channel is scheduled to close down in April. In its place is the following message:
Why do so many PhD students publishing their medical theses in German resort to brazen plagiarism, even copying from people in their own research groups? We’re pleased to present a Q&A with Debora Weber-Wulff, based at the University of Applied Sciences HTW Berlin in Germany. She recently published a case study for the Council of … Continue reading Why plagiarism is such a problem for German PhDs: Q&A with Debora Weber-Wulff
The week at Retraction Watch featured a paper on reincarnation being retracted because it was plagiarized from Wikipedia, the swift retraction of a paper claiming that women’s makeup use was tied to testosterone levels, and a lot of news about trachea surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:
Following questions from outside experts, a retraction of a related paper, a university investigation and a court case, The Lancet has decided to retract a 1992 paper by Ranjit Kumar Chandra, the self-proclaimed “father of nutritional immunology.” In a lengthy retraction note included in the January 30 issue, the journal explains that: the balance of probabilities … Continue reading Lancet retracts 24-year-old paper by “father of nutritional immunology” after reopening inquiry