Search Results for: email fake

Should the chocolate-diet sting study be retracted? And why the coverage doesn’t surprise a news watchdog

Note: This story has been updated to include the journal’s response. See below. Yesterday, John Bohannon described in i09.com how he successfully”created” health news — he conducted a flawed trial of the health benefits of chocolate, gamed the data to produce statistically significant results, and published the findings in the International Archives of Medicine: It was terrible science. … Continue reading Should the chocolate-diet sting study be retracted? And why the coverage doesn’t surprise a news watchdog

Weekend reads, part 2: Oldest-ever PhD; most embarrassing citation ever; blame the antibodies?

As we noted Saturday, there was so much happening around the web last week that it made sense to break up Weekend Reads, especially since this is a holiday weekend in the U.S. and elsewhere. Here’s part 2:

Weekend reads: Turning journal spam into a paper; embracing science’s flaws; ending bias

This week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a Cell paper by Harvard researchers and the retraction of a JCI study by NIH scientists. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Third retraction for GWU biologist as university seeks to dismiss his $8 million lawsuit

Cancer biologist Rakesh Kumar has chalked up another retraction, this time for “identical,” “duplicated,” and “replicated” figures and images. It comes on the heels of a flurry of motions in Kumar’s $8 million lawsuit against his employer, George Washington University, for breach of contract and emotional distress because it removed him as department chair last year and … Continue reading Third retraction for GWU biologist as university seeks to dismiss his $8 million lawsuit

CrossFit gym owner sues Ohio State, says fraudulent data led to $273 million in NIH grants

In an lawsuit unsealed yesterday, the owner of a CrossFit gym is suing Ohio State University (OSU) under the False Claims Act, claiming that researchers faked data in a university-based study involving his gym — and that OSU used the study to win $273 million in Federal grants. The suit, originally filed in February in … Continue reading CrossFit gym owner sues Ohio State, says fraudulent data led to $273 million in NIH grants

Authors retract leptin paper due to “fabricated data”

The authors of a study on the effects of the hormone leptin on the liver have retracted it from Cell Metabolism, almost four months after the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) determined it contained faked data, courtesy of its first author. However, the authors say that the paper’s conclusions remain valid, and are supported by new … Continue reading Authors retract leptin paper due to “fabricated data”

Editor of Medical Journal of Australia fired after criticizing decision to outsource to Elsevier

Public health expert Stephen Leeder has been ousted as editor of Australia’s top medical journal after he questioned the decision to outsource the journal’s production and other tasks to publishing giant Elsevier. Leeder, emeritus professor at the University of Sydney, told the Medical Observer he was asked to leave when he and the journal’s publisher, … Continue reading Editor of Medical Journal of Australia fired after criticizing decision to outsource to Elsevier

Two more retractions bring lab break-in biochemist up to eleven

Karel Bezouška, the Czech biochemist who was caught on hidden camera breaking into a lab fridge to fake results, has turned it up to eleven with two new retractions. Both retractions appeared in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, one in October 2014 and one in January 2015.  His story began two decades ago in 1994, when he published … Continue reading Two more retractions bring lab break-in biochemist up to eleven

Weekend reads: Publication pollution, irreproducible research crisis, and broken funding models

The week at Retraction Watch featured an adventure in irony as a paper on plagiarism was retracted for…plagiarism, as well as another retraction for high-profile cancer research Robert Weinberg. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Do fraudsters deserve a second chance?

In January, we were accused of bullying. We were writing about a researcher who had 16 papers retracted for fake peer reviews; when we found out he was trying to find a new job in academia, we posted a follow-up that linked to his CV. Some commenters called the post “bullying,” “unethical,” and “over the … Continue reading Do fraudsters deserve a second chance?