Fourth retraction results from Cardiff investigation

Researchers have retracted a fourth paper following an investigation at Cardiff University that found evidence of image manipulation by a researcher named Rossen Donev. Here’s the notice for “The mouse complement regulator CD59b is significantly expressed only in testis and plays roles in sperm acrosome activation and motility,” a paper first published in Molecular Immunology … Continue reading Fourth retraction results from Cardiff investigation

Federal court rebuffs request to discredit article that malpractice lawyers want retracted

We’re a bit late to this, but a Federal court in Massachusetts last fall heard a medical malpractice case with fascinating implications for journals. The case involved allegations by the plaintiffs — two children who had suffered permanent birth defects and their mothers — that they had lost previous malpractice suits because a fraudulent case report … Continue reading Federal court rebuffs request to discredit article that malpractice lawyers want retracted

St. Louis Krokodil paper reappears

Earlier this month, we reported on the unexplained withdrawal of a case report from the American Journal of Medicine whose authors said they had treated a man in St. Louis who used krokodil, a homemade mixture of prescription painkillers heroin and flammable contaminants that has proven deadly in Russia. At the time, all the journal’s … Continue reading St. Louis Krokodil paper reappears

Weekend reads: Snarky acknowledgement sections, journal editors on fraud

Another busy week at Retraction Watch, beginning with a story we broke about faked HIV vaccine results that was picked up by the Des Moines Register and other outlets. Here’s what was happening elsewhere on the web:

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