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Weekend reads: 179 researchers indicted; how to reject a rejection; breaking the law on clinical trial data

The week at Retraction Watch featured more installments in the seemingly never-ending story of fake peer reviews. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

“Compromised” peer review hits three papers from Nature Publishing Group

Nature Publishing Group is retracting three papers today, after an investigation found evidence the peer-review process had been compromised. The publisher issued a statement saying they had notified corresponding authors and institutions associated with the three papers, which were all published last year in the journals Cancer Gene Therapy and Spinal Cord.  Here’s the note that’s going … Continue reading “Compromised” peer review hits three papers from Nature Publishing Group

“The peer review process was compromised”: Inflammation drug paper pulled

A paper that screened for antibodies that target TNFα, a major source of inflammation, has been retraction after an investigation revealed the peer-review process may have been compromised. We’ve seen the peer review process “compromised” in a handful of ways — from a mathematician who oversaw the process on several of his own papers, to some 250 … Continue reading “The peer review process was compromised”: Inflammation drug paper pulled

Weekend reads: What do PhDs earn?; university refuses to release data; collaboration’s dark side

This week at Retraction Watch featured a look at the huge problem of misidentified cell lines, a check-in with a company that retracted a paper as it was about to go public, and Diederik Stapel’s 58th retraction. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Weekend reads: Papers de-emphasized for funding; reproducibility revolution; reining in fraud in China

The week at Retraction Watch featured a particularly misleading retraction notice, and a university stripping a graduate of her PhD for misconduct. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Yale doc loses 2 HuffPo blog posts after secretly promoting his novel

The Huffington Post has retracted two blog posts by prominent Yale nutritionist David Katz after learning he had posted incredibly favorable reviews of a new novel — and not revealed that he had written the novel himself, under a pseudonym. There’s no doubt Katz is a prolific writer — in addition to a couple hundred scientific articles … Continue reading Yale doc loses 2 HuffPo blog posts after secretly promoting his novel

Can journals get hijacked? Apparently, yes

Did you recently log onto your favorite journal’s website and see this? (For anyone who doesn’t want to bother clicking, it’s the video from Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”) If so, your favorite journal was hijacked. In today’s issue of Science, John Bohannon (who recently published a bogus study about the benefits of chocolate) … Continue reading Can journals get hijacked? Apparently, yes

Editors weren’t “unable to verify reviewer identities” — reviewers just weren’t qualified

We can’t resist flagging some misleading language in a retraction note for a 2015 paper on the inner workings of an amoeba pathogen. The note for “The Charms of the CHRM Receptors: Apoptotic and Amoebicidal effects of Dicyclomine on Acanthamoeba castellanii” is short, so we’re going to give it to you up front: This accepted manuscript has been retracted … Continue reading Editors weren’t “unable to verify reviewer identities” — reviewers just weren’t qualified