Dental paper pulled for “wrong content with serious consequences”

An article on how missing teeth affect chewing was — well, pulled — when someone noticed a few errors. The journal later published a corrected version. The retraction for “Chewing ability in an adult Chinese population” appeared in Clinical Oral Investigations in 2012, but we’re sharing it with you now because the notice contains some remarkable language: This article has been … Continue reading Dental paper pulled for “wrong content with serious consequences”

Researcher suing PubPeer commenters earns 5 retractions following investigation

An investigation at Wayne State University has prompted five retractions for a scientist who is suing PubPeer commenters after they criticized his work on the site. The investigation into Fazlul Sarkar and his co-authors found that the papers contain images that were “inappropriately manipulated” or “inappropriately re-used and re-labeled.” All five retraction notices are from the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry. … Continue reading Researcher suing PubPeer commenters earns 5 retractions following investigation

Third party company botched student’s doctoral work, says biologist

A PhD student who was supposed to complete part of an experiment passed the job on to a third party company, which in turn provided figures that were plagiarized and fabricated. That’s according to the corresponding author of the paper, which has now been retracted. Hong Ren, affiliated with Xi’an Jiao Tong University in China, told us that he … Continue reading Third party company botched student’s doctoral work, says biologist

Weekend reads: Idiotic reviews; wrong metrics in China; questions about preprints

The week at Retraction Watch featured the corrections of papers claiming that conservative beliefs were linked to psychotic traits, and a new member of our leaderboard, from philosophy. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

PLOS ONE retracts 2 malaria papers over doubts experiments ever took place

Authors have retracted a pair of PLOS ONE papers after an investigation suggested the articles might contain some fiction. In the papers, the authors describe collecting and analyzing the DNA of mosquitoes to look for changes following the introduction of bed nets treated with insecticides to combat malaria. However, an investigation by the Institut de Recherche pour … Continue reading PLOS ONE retracts 2 malaria papers over doubts experiments ever took place

Prompted by PubPeer, biologist corrects three papers

A biologist has corrected three papers that are nearly a decade old, after concerns were raised on PubPeer. A commenter first posted a comment about an image in one of the papers in 2013; after more comments on other papers appeared in November 2015, author Zoya Avramova at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln received emails alerting her to … Continue reading Prompted by PubPeer, biologist corrects three papers

JAMA takes all calls for retraction seriously — even from PETA

A leading medical journal is taking a second look at a recent high-profile paper about elephants’ lower risk of cancer, after receiving a call for retraction from a somewhat unusual corner: the animal rights group PETA. This isn’t the first time the activist group has called for a retraction — last year, it nudged a … Continue reading JAMA takes all calls for retraction seriously — even from PETA

Epilepsy researcher gets retraction, correction after former colleague flags work

Epilepsy researcher Toni Schneider has received a retraction and a correction in quick succession, after a former colleague raised red flags about the work.  The retraction for Schneider, based at the University of Köln in Germany, is for “unintentional inclusion of erroneous data” due to limitations of the recording system used in the paper, according to the … Continue reading Epilepsy researcher gets retraction, correction after former colleague flags work

Heart researcher faked 70+ experiments, 100+ images

A former researcher at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago faked dozens of experiments and images over the course of six years, according to a new finding from the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). Ricky Malhotra, who studied heart cells, admitted to committing misconduct at both institutions, the ORI said in its … Continue reading Heart researcher faked 70+ experiments, 100+ images