Geology dust-up: Second sand paper swept away for duplication

Citing an “abuse of the scientific publishing system,” the editors of Geomorphology have retracted a paper from a quartet of geologists in China for containing “significant similarity” to four other papers. It is the second recent retraction for the group: In a loop of self-plagiarism, the Geomorphology paper was cited as a source of copied material … Continue reading Geology dust-up: Second sand paper swept away for duplication

Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?

As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2:

Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught

This week at Retraction Watch was dominated by the Science same-sex marriage study, after we broke the news Wednesday morning that one of its authors had requested its retraction. (And crashed our servers in the process.) So the first section of this Weekend Reads will focus on pieces following up on that story: The New … Continue reading Weekend reads: Gay canvassing study redux; editors fired; how the world’s biggest faker was caught

Weekend reads: Turning journal spam into a paper; embracing science’s flaws; ending bias

This week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a Cell paper by Harvard researchers and the retraction of a JCI study by NIH scientists. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Drug study pulled after researchers admit altering trial protocol

The Egyptian Journal of Anaesthesia is retracting a 2014 paper by a pair of researchers at Cairo University who appear to have tinkered with their protocol after having received ethics approval. The paper, titled “Can Sugammadex improve the reversal profile of Atracurium under Sevoflurane anesthesia?” was written by Heba Ismail Ahmed Nagy and Hany Wafik … Continue reading Drug study pulled after researchers admit altering trial protocol

Snail egg article retracted for fishing for material from six other papers

The first author of a review article on extracting pharmacological compounds from marine organisms, published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine, has retracted it due to plagiarism. There were also some authorship issues, according to the retraction notice for the paper, which absolves the last author, based at Pondicherry University in India, from … Continue reading Snail egg article retracted for fishing for material from six other papers

Skeleton crew’s second paper broken over methodology issues; more retractions to appear

Bone researcher Olga Panagiotopoulou of the University of Queensland has lost a second paper over “errors in the validation protocol and data.” The retracted paper in the Journal of Biomechanics, about primate jaws, was subject to an expression of concern in May 2014 November 2013, one of two Panagiotopoulou’s group issued last year over methodological problems. The other … Continue reading Skeleton crew’s second paper broken over methodology issues; more retractions to appear

Weekend reads: Aussie scientists bend rules; how to fix peer review once and for all; crazy structure alert

The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of 11 papers by a controversial researcher in Italy, and a look at the controversy over lead in the water supply. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Poll: What to do when peer review feels inadequate?

How should scientists think about papers that have undergone what appears to be a cursory peer review? Perhaps the papers were reviewed in a day — or less — or simply green-lighted by an editor, without an outside look. That’s a question Dorothy Bishop, an Oxford University autism researcher, asked herself when she noticed some … Continue reading Poll: What to do when peer review feels inadequate?

Cancer researcher under investigation in Italy notches eighth retraction

Alfredo Fusco, the researcher in Italy who is under criminal investigation and has had seven papers retracted, has lost yet another study. The investigation, which came to light in late 2013, had focused on eight papers thought to demonstrate evidence of image manipulation. The latest paper, in the European Journal of Cancer, studied mice with … Continue reading Cancer researcher under investigation in Italy notches eighth retraction