Search Results for: images

JACS corrects, removes author from previously flagged paper

A paper at the center of a high-profile case of alleged misconduct in Hong Kong has earned a correction notice. The correction replaces an expression of concern on the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) paper, which followed allegations of data manipulation. It provides some un-cropped images, and removes a co-author from the paper. However, it does … Continue reading JACS corrects, removes author from previously flagged paper

What happened after a journal decided to get tough on plagiarism?

In July 2015, DNA and Cell Biology began routinely scanning manuscript submissions for plagiarism using iThenticate; since then, it’s rejected between four and six manuscripts each month for that reason alone. Additional submissions have been rejected after the journal realized the authors had digitally altered figures. The level of misconduct “shocked” editor-in-chief Carol Shoshkes Reiss, as … Continue reading What happened after a journal decided to get tough on plagiarism?

Biologist under investigation asks journal to swap image, journal retracts the paper

When a researcher discovered one of the images in her papers was a duplication, she asked the journal to fix it — but the journal decided to retract the paper entirely. The researcher, Suchitra Sumitran-Holgersson, is currently being investigated by the University of Gothenburg in Sweden after a number of her papers were questioned on PubPeer. She told … Continue reading Biologist under investigation asks journal to swap image, journal retracts the paper

Biologists earn 5th retraction following Swedish investigation

A team of biologists have earned a fifth retraction for a paper containing manipulated images, following an investigation by the Swedish government. Last year, the investigation found that former Uppsala University doctoral student Apiruck Watthanasurorot had manipulated figures in five papers, four of which have already been retracted. Earlier this year, we reported that his … Continue reading Biologists earn 5th retraction following Swedish investigation

Cancer paper that doctored image from Science story earns retraction

Here’s a joke for all you middle-schoolers out there. How are doctored images like bad pennies? They keep cropping up! Here’s the latest one we’ve picked up: Lung Cancer has retracted a 2014 paper on the genetics of tumors after concluding the authors cribbed a figure that had appeared in a 2005 feature story in … Continue reading Cancer paper that doctored image from Science story earns retraction

Stem cell researchers fix two papers following PubPeer comments

A pair of stem cell researchers have earned two corrections, the result of images that were mislabeled, distorted, or compiled incorrectly, according to the notices. Kang Cheng prepared the gels when he was a research fellow in last author Sanjeev Gupta‘s lab at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Gupta told us he reviewed the original gels, and the errors didn’t affect the … Continue reading Stem cell researchers fix two papers following PubPeer comments

Book publisher: Authors plagiarized “in good faith” because they cited previous work

A publisher has retracted a chapter from a book on flow cytometry after determining the authors plagiarized some material — but noted that because the authors cited the article they lifted from, they likely acted “in good faith.” We were tipped off to this retraction from the authors of the review article the chapter plagiarized from, who … Continue reading Book publisher: Authors plagiarized “in good faith” because they cited previous work

Paper linking fecal transplants to obesity in rats retracted for faked data

A paper linking the fecal microbiome to obesity has been retracted after it became clear that one of the co-authors faked some of the data. The 2014 paper in Diabetes — which found that rats given fecal transplants from obese mice were more likely to become obese themselves if given a particular diet — was pulled after after an institutional investigation found … Continue reading Paper linking fecal transplants to obesity in rats retracted for faked data

Weekend reads: Peer review, troubled from the start; how to survive as a whistle-blower

The week at Retraction Watch featured news that one in 25 papers in a massive screen includes inappropriate image manipulation, and of the eighth and ninth retractions for a neuroscience team. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: