Search Results for: opaque

European Science Foundation demands retraction of criticism in Nature, threatens legal action

The European Science Foundation (ESF) has threatened legal action against a scientist for calling an evaluation process supported by the agency “flawed” in a commentary piece in Nature. Amaya Moro-Martin, an assistant astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and an associate research scientist at The Johns Hopkins University, apparently angered the ESF with … Continue reading European Science Foundation demands retraction of criticism in Nature, threatens legal action

A PNAS expression of concern appears — and so does its revealing backstory

When retraction notices and expressions of concern appear, particularly those that are opaque, we try our best to find out what’s behind them, whether it’s better explanations or the steps that led to moves. Today, we have one story in which we’ve been able to learn a lot more than usual. In April, Bas van … Continue reading A PNAS expression of concern appears — and so does its revealing backstory

Scientist in Ireland notches two mysterious retractions and a correction

Sinead Miggin, a biologist at the National University of Ireland Maynooth, has withdrawn two papers from the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) and has corrected another paper, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Here’s the opaque JBC notice for “14-3-3ϵ and 14-3-3σ inhibit Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated proinflammatory cytokine induction,” a paper … Continue reading Scientist in Ireland notches two mysterious retractions and a correction

Cell retraction of Alzheimer’s study is second for Tufts neuroscientist

A researcher at Tufts University has retracted a paper in Cell, a year after retracting a study on a similar subject from the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Here’s the notice for “SIRT1 Suppresses β-Amyloid Production by Activating the α-Secretase Gene ADAM10,” a 2010 paper by Tufts’ Gizem Donmez, MIT’s Leonard Guarante — of longevity research … Continue reading Cell retraction of Alzheimer’s study is second for Tufts neuroscientist

Cancer genetics group retracts three papers for “inappropriate presentation of data”

A group of cancer genetics researchers in Italy and the U.S. has retracted three papers in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) after it became aware they had duplicated some bands in their figures. Here are the three papers:

“Apparently, the bureaucracy at Elsevier is the most cumbersome thing in the world:” Journal editor

We recently came across a paper in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, an Elsevier title, that had been temporarily removed without explanation. While we see a fair number of such opaque notices from Elsevier — and have written about why we think they’re a bad idea — we took interest in this one because the … Continue reading “Apparently, the bureaucracy at Elsevier is the most cumbersome thing in the world:” Journal editor

Which countries have the most retractions, for which reasons?

One of the questions we often get — but are careful to answer with some version of “we don’t know because we don’t have a denominator” — is how retraction rates vary by scientific field and country. We’ve noticed that the reasons for retraction seem to vary among countries, but didn’t really have the data. … Continue reading Which countries have the most retractions, for which reasons?

Pharmaceutical journal retracts antibiotics paper with dodgy data, with an unclear notice

AAPS PharmSciTech, a journal of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, has retracted a 2013 paper by a group from India. The reason appears to be manipulated data, although the wording of the notice leaves that open to interpretation. The article, “Design and Formulation Technique of a Novel Drug Delivery System for Azithromycin and Its … Continue reading Pharmaceutical journal retracts antibiotics paper with dodgy data, with an unclear notice

“Why Growing Retractions Are (Mostly) a Good Sign”: New study makes the case

Retraction Watch readers will no doubt be familiar with the fact that retraction rates are rising, but one of the unanswered questions has been whether that increase is due to more misconduct, greater awareness, or some combination of the two. In a new paper in PLOS Medicine, Daniele Fanelli, who has studied misconduct and related … Continue reading “Why Growing Retractions Are (Mostly) a Good Sign”: New study makes the case

Big trouble in little China: Two looks at what warps scientific publishing there

The press corps has turned its attention to scientific publishing in China this week. Here’s Naomi Ching’s lede — that’s how we spell it in journalism — from Nautilus: You may have heard that Chinese researchers are not very well compensated, compared to their Western counterparts. What you might not know is that they can … Continue reading Big trouble in little China: Two looks at what warps scientific publishing there