Two Expressions of Concern in Blood for MD Anderson’s Aggarwal, who has threatened to sue Retraction Watch

Bharat Aggarwal, the MD Anderson researcher who has threatened to sue us while under investigation by his institution for alleged misconduct, now has two Expressions of Concern in addition to two corrections and two unexplained withdrawals. Both of the papers were published in Blood. The Expression of Concern for “Gambogic acid, a novel ligand for … Continue reading Two Expressions of Concern in Blood for MD Anderson’s Aggarwal, who has threatened to sue Retraction Watch

Heart pulls sodium meta-analysis over duplicated, and now missing, data

The journal Heart has retracted a 2012 meta-analysis after learning that two of the six studies included in the review contained duplicated data.  Those studies, it so happens, were conducted by one of the co-authors. The article, “Low sodium versus normal sodium diets in systolic heart failure: systematic review and meta-analysis,” came from an eclectic … Continue reading Heart pulls sodium meta-analysis over duplicated, and now missing, data

Mitochondrial fission paper falls for fusing data from earlier work

A team of neuroscientists in Japan has lost their 2012 article in Brain Research for duplicating elements of a figure from a paper they’d published earlier that year in another journal. The article, “Dynamic changes of mitochondrial fission proteins after transient cerebral ischemia in mice,” came from a lab at Okayama University. The last author … Continue reading Mitochondrial fission paper falls for fusing data from earlier work

“Conflicting investigations” prompt expression of concern in BMC Genomics

BMC Genomics has issued an expression of concern for a 2011 paper by a prominent Argentine chemist, Ariel Fernandez, whose work covers several disciplines — “His research spans representation theory in algebra, physical chemistry, molecular biophysics, and more recently, molecular evolution and drug discovery” — and institutions. And therein lies the tale. Fernandez appeared as … Continue reading “Conflicting investigations” prompt expression of concern in BMC Genomics

University of Virginia doctoral candidate plagiarizes in business ethics journal, but remains in program

We’ve already reported on the retraction of a paper in a business ethics journal for plagiarism. Yes, plagiarism in an ethics journal. But it turns out there’s at least one more case of exactly the same thing, albeit in a different business ethics journal. Here’s the notice from the Journal of Business Ethics:

Pfizer database errors cause two voluminous retractions for JACC statin-biomarker papers

Coding errors in a database maintained by Pfizer have led authors to retract two heart biomarker papers in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The two notices, for “Prediction of cardiovascular events in statin-treated patients by lipid and non-lipid biomarkers” and “Plasma PCSK9 levels and clinical outcomes in the TNT (Treating to New … Continue reading Pfizer database errors cause two voluminous retractions for JACC statin-biomarker papers

Image problems lead to demise of paper on ginseng for heart attack

A group of researchers from Shangdong, China, has retracted their 2011 paper in the Journal of Molecular Medicine on the heart-protective properties of a substance in ginseng because the article contained dodgy figures. The article, “Ginsenoside-Rg1 enhances angiogenesis and ameliorates ventricular remodeling in a rat model of myocardial infarction,” purported to show that ginsenoside:

Oh, the irony: Business ethics journal paper retracted for plagiarism

Is this the new business ethics? In January, we reported on a paper retracted from the Journal of Business Ethics for duplication. That earned the author a five-year publishing ban. This week, we learned of a case of plagiarism in another journal in the field, the Journal of Academic and Business Ethics. Here’s an email … Continue reading Oh, the irony: Business ethics journal paper retracted for plagiarism

Smoking cessation paper pulled for “almost word-for-word” similarity to authors’ previous work

The Journal of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine has retracted a 2008 article on smoking cessation by a group from Sweden which they had published not many months before in a different journal. The retracted paper was titled “Quitting smoking is perceived to have an effect on somatic health among pregnant and non-pregnant women.” The authors, … Continue reading Smoking cessation paper pulled for “almost word-for-word” similarity to authors’ previous work

Retraction count for gynecologic cancer researcher Takai grows to seven

Noriyuki Takai, a gynecologic cancer researcher at Oita University in Japan who retracted three papers last October, has four more retractions, these in Cancer Letters. All but one of the notices reads as follows: