Search Results for: singapore

Alirio Melendez categorically denies data falsification, alleges cover-up

Alirio Melendez, who was found guilty of scientific misconduct by the National University of Singapore and has had 13 papers retracted, says none of what he’s being accused of is true. In a statement posted yesterday at ajmelendez.co.uk and this morning at Retraction Watch, Melendez acknowledges that fraud occurred in his laboratory, but “categorically” denies … Continue reading Alirio Melendez categorically denies data falsification, alleges cover-up

Melendez Science paper retracted, making 13

Alirio Melendez, who has already had 12 papers retracted from various journals and been found guilty of scientific misconduct by a former employer, has had a Science paper retracted. Here’s the notice (which is behind a paywall):

“Bird vocalizations” and other best-ever plagiarism excuses: A wrap-up of the 3rd World Conference on Research Integrity

What are the best excuses you’ve seen for plagiarism? James Kroll, at the National Science Foundation’s Office of Inspector General, has collected a bunch over the years (click on the image to enlarge):

Retraction 12 appears for Alirio Melendez, this one for plagiarism

The twelfth of Alirio Melendez’s 20-something retractions has appeared, in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology. Along with the retraction notice, the journal runs letters from the paper’s two co-authors. Melendez writes:

Alirio Melendez notches retractions 10 and 11

Former National University of Singapore and University of Liverpool scientist Alirio Melendez has two more of the 20-something retractions suggested by the investigations into his work. Both appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Here’s the notice for “FcγRI-triggered generation of arachidonic acid and eicosanoids requires iPLA2 but not cPLA2 in human monocytic cells:”

Findings of “greatly enhanced” optics turn out to be, well, greatly enhanced

The authors of a paper in Nature Photonics have been forced to walk back their article after learning from another group of researchers that their conclusions likely were an, ahem, optical illusion. The paper, “Greatly enhanced continuous-wave terahertz emission by nano-electrodes in a photoconductive photomixer,” appeared in January 2012 and came from a team led … Continue reading Findings of “greatly enhanced” optics turn out to be, well, greatly enhanced

Paper with “missing or placed wrongly” controls retracted because there’s “no editorial mechanism to review the errors”

Two researchers from Singapore are retracting a paper that included errors in three figures because there’s apparently no way to fix the mistakes and have the new work reviewed. Here’s the notice for “Host-dependent effects of the 3′ untranslated region of turnip crinkle virus RNA on accumulation in Hibiscus and Arabidopsis,” by Weimin Li and … Continue reading Paper with “missing or placed wrongly” controls retracted because there’s “no editorial mechanism to review the errors”

And then there were eight: Three more retractions for Alirio Melendez, all in the Journal of Immunology

Alirio Melendez, who has already retracted five papers and was found by one of his former universities to have committed misconduct on more than 20, has three more retractions. Here’s the notice for “Antisense Knockdown of Sphingosine Kinase 1 in Human Macrophages Inhibits C5a Receptor-Dependent Signal Transduction, Ca2+ Signals, Enzyme Release, Cytokine Production, and Chemotaxis,” … Continue reading And then there were eight: Three more retractions for Alirio Melendez, all in the Journal of Immunology

Magnets paper fails to stick as plagiarism leads to retraction

A group engineers from Iran and Singapore have been forced to retract a paper in the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials after the article was found to contain incidents of plagiarism. The article, “Magnetic properties of iron-based soft magnetic composites with MgO coating obtained by sol–gel method,” appeared in April 2010. Sometime later (we’re … Continue reading Magnets paper fails to stick as plagiarism leads to retraction

NUS: Melendez committed “serious scientific misconduct,” but don’t expect to get any details

Alirio Melendez, a former National University of Singapore immunologist whose story we’ve been following here since a retraction in September of last year, committed misconduct on an “unprecedented” scale, according to the university, involving more than 20 papers. Nature’s Richard van Noorden has the scoop: After a 19-month investigation, the National University of Singapore (NUS) … Continue reading NUS: Melendez committed “serious scientific misconduct,” but don’t expect to get any details