On Sept. 17, 2019, virologist David Sanders — who recently won a lawsuit brought against him for efforts as a scientific sleuth — wrote a letter to the Journal of Cellular Physiology about a 2004 paper whose images raised his eyebrows. The response a day later from an editorial assistant was a hint of what … Continue reading A journal publishes a critical letter — then says it was a mistake
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. Sending thoughts to our readers and wishing them the best in this uncertain time. The week … Continue reading Weekend reads: A COVID-19 conspiracy theory; a 15-year-old publishes in NEJM; the need for speed
The journal Diabetes has retracted two 2006 papers by a group of researchers in Germany whose work has long been the subject of concerns about image duplication and manipulation. The first author of the articles is Kathrin Maedler, a prominent diabetes specialist at the University of Bremen, where she’d been a named professor but lost … Continue reading Tired of waiting for a university, a publisher commissions its own investigation — and retracts two papers
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured a case of doing the right thing in autism research; … Continue reading Weekend reads: The need for more honesty in science; a fight between authors of a GM mosquito paper; faked academic CVs
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. Retraction Watch came back online on Wednesday of this week, after a 10-day outage for technical … Continue reading Weekend reads: Questions swirl over kidney transplant papers from China; author apologizes for paper of whether women performed medical procedures as well as men; reports detail widespread fraud in UK lab
We often praise authors for doing the right thing by retracting with transparency. Here’s a journal that deserves recognition for its handling of a case of duplicate publication. Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica (ADAPA), a European derm publication, has retracted a 2018 article in smack-down fashion, calling out a co-author for deceit. The paper … Continue reading Too much skin in the game: Derm journal calls out author for duplication
A group of researchers based in Italy has had three papers retracted for likely using the same images to represent different experimental conditions. The retractions, in Diabetes, published by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), follow expressions of concern for the papers in early 2018 and the launch of an investigation by the authors’ institution into … Continue reading After university goes silent, diabetes journal retracts three papers
Reason Description Author Unresponsive The corresponding author(s) did not respond to journal/publisher requests for response, clarification, etc., about one or more concerns/issues with a publication. RW does not apply this reason when the lack of response is only to the language or posting of a notice of correction/EOC/retraction.ion after prior contact by Journal, Publisher or … Continue reading Retraction Watch Database User Guide Appendix B: Reasons
When Alexander Harms arrived at the University of Copenhagen in August 2016, as a postdoc planning to study a type of antibiotic resistance in bacteria, he carried with him a warning from another lab who had recruited him: People said, “If you go there, you have to deal with these weird articles that nobody believes.” … Continue reading Overlooked virus “generated a mess,” infected highly cited Cell, PNAS papers
One journal broke a retractions record by pulling more than 100 papers in one day for faked reviews, a Harvard graduate student obtained a restraining order against his boss after being forced to undergo a psychiatric exam, and a well-known food scientist at Cornell faced heavy criticism about his research. And that’s just some of … Continue reading The 2017 Retraction Watch Year in Review (hint: Our database is nearly done)