Search Results for: elsevier

More retractions for authors who duplicated — and did their own peer review

Add to the retraction pile for a pair of chemists in Iran who duplicated their work — and reviewed their own articles to boot. The authors, Kobra Pourabdollah and Bahram Mokhtari, are affiliated with the Razi Chemistry Research Center in the Shahreza Branch of Islamic Azad University. In September, we reported on the retractions of … Continue reading More retractions for authors who duplicated — and did their own peer review

Rats! Neuroscientist notches third retraction, this one for using the wrong RNAs

Amine Bahi, a neuroscience researcher in the United Arab Emirates, has had a third paper retracted. Here’s the notice for “Blockade of Protein Phosphatase 2B Activity in the Amygdala Increases Anxiety- and Depression-Like Behaviors in Mice,” which was posted on November 19:

Should scientific misconduct be handled by the police? It’s fraud week at Nature and Nature Medicine

It’s really hard to get papers retracted, police might be best-equipped to handle scientific misconduct investigations, and there’s finally software that will identify likely image manipulation. Those are three highlights from a number of pieces that have appeared in Nature and Nature Medicine in the past few weeks. Not surprisingly, there are common threads, so … Continue reading Should scientific misconduct be handled by the police? It’s fraud week at Nature and Nature Medicine

A retracted retraction? Authors salvage entomology paper with image issues

The paper is dead. Long live the paper! Earlier this year, we brought you the case of a group of Brazilian insect researchers who lost two 15-year-old papers in different journals for duplication. One of those papers has been resurrected, albeit in a rather puzzling way. The article, “Non-local interactions and the dynamics of dispersal … Continue reading A retracted retraction? Authors salvage entomology paper with image issues

Melendez notches retraction 14, Lemus now stands at 12

Two researchers who have appeared frequently on Retraction Watch have racked up another retraction each. This is the fourteenth retraction for Alirio Melendez, who was found guilty of misconduct by the National University of Singapore but denies the allegations. Here’s the notice in The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology for “Environmental toxicogenomics: A … Continue reading Melendez notches retraction 14, Lemus now stands at 12

Drug withdrawal: St. Louis Krokodil paper disappears

On November 11, St. Louis’s KTVI reported that krokodil, a nasty opioid concoction with roots in Russia, had arrived in their town. They based that report on a case study published in the American Journal of Medicine, “Krokodil’—A Designer Drug From Across the Atlantic, with Serious Consequences,” and interviewed two of the paper’s authors, Dany … Continue reading Drug withdrawal: St. Louis Krokodil paper disappears

Controversial Seralini GMO-rats paper to be retracted

A heavily criticized study of the effects of genetically modified maize and the Roundup herbicide on rats is being retracted — one way or another. The paper — by Gilles Seralini and colleagues — was published in Food and Chemical Toxicology last year. There have been calls for retraction since then, along with other criticism … Continue reading Controversial Seralini GMO-rats paper to be retracted

Columbia University misconduct retraction highlights what’s wrong with the retraction process

The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia has a retraction of a 2006 paper by a group from Columbia University that, to our minds, is the poster child for how not to handle such things. The article, “Dexmedetomidine infusion is associated with enhanced renal function after thoracic surgery,” was written by Robert J. Frumento, Helene G. Logginidou, … Continue reading Columbia University misconduct retraction highlights what’s wrong with the retraction process

Spying on The Onion: Journal retracts drone paper for duplication

When you think of drones, you probably think of deadly strikes in faraway lands. But what about studying crops? Take “Use of digital photography from unmanned aerial vehicles for estimation of leaf area index in onion (Allium cepa L.),” a study published earlier this year in the European Journal of Agronomy by researchers from Spain:

Two detailed retraction notices correct the cardiology record

Two American College of Cardiology conference abstracts published earlier this year in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) have been retracted, one because the authors were actually measuring something other than what they reported, and the other because newer software invalidated the results. Here’s the notice for “Worsening of Pre-Existing Valvulopathy With … Continue reading Two detailed retraction notices correct the cardiology record