Heart researcher who faked patient data gets 4th retraction

A heart researcher who fabricated patient records for her studies on the blood pressure medication ramipril has earned her fourth retraction, and more are apparently on the way. For readers who are new to this case: Things first unraveled for Anna Ahimastos when a subanalysis of a JAMA clinical trial revealed “anomalies,” triggering an investigation. After Ahimastos admitted to … Continue reading Heart researcher who faked patient data gets 4th retraction

Heart researcher who faked patient data gets third retraction

A heart researcher has notched her third retraction, a small 2006 trial in Annals of Internal Medicine which seemed to show that a blood pressure drug could help people with artery disease walk further with less pain. Earlier this year, Anna Ahimastos, formerly a researcher at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, lost a … Continue reading Heart researcher who faked patient data gets third retraction

Sex addiction article retracted, republished

An open-access journal with a speedy peer review process has been having some issues with a retracted article on the biology of sex addiction. Here’s the simple timeline of events: “Hypersexuality Addiction and Withdrawal: Phenomenology, Neurogenetics and Epigenetics,” a review article, was published by Cureus in July, following a two-day peer review. In the weeks that followed, the paper received a … Continue reading Sex addiction article retracted, republished

University investigating duplicated images in retracted paper

The authors of a Cell Metabolism paper are pulling it after discovering blot images that “appear more than once in independent and unrelated experiments.”  Just how the duplication occurred in the 2009 paper — about transcription of mitochondrial DNA — remains a mystery, the authors note: …the reasons for the errors are still under investigation… Meanwhile, … Continue reading University investigating duplicated images in retracted paper

Surgery journal publishes — then retracts — response to letter that never appeared

How’s this for confusing: A surgery journal is retracting researchers’ response to a letter about their paper, because the letter was never actually published. According to the managing editor of the Annals of Surgery, the letter — about a 2011 analysis of IV fluids in trauma patients — was accepted, prompting the journal to ask … Continue reading Surgery journal publishes — then retracts — response to letter that never appeared

Serial plagiarist’s retractions upped to 14

We’ve done some digging, run the numbers, and present to you a new member of our leaderboard: orthopedic researcher Bernardino Saccomanni. Nine newly unearthed retractions of his make for a total of 14. We first reported on Saccomanni’s work back in 2011, and identified him as a “serial plagiarist.” In the years since, he’s continued to rack … Continue reading Serial plagiarist’s retractions upped to 14

Weekend reads: Angry meta-analysts; imposter cell lines; when things go wrong

This week at Retraction Watch featured nine more fake peer review retractions, this time from Elsevier, and an update to the retraction count for one-time record holder Joachim Boldt. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Investigation ends in 6th retraction for Voinnet

A sixth paper co-authored by plant researcher Olivier Voinnet has been retracted by PLOS Pathogens “following an investigation into concerns.” The investigation found “several band duplications” in one figure provided by fifth author, Patrice Dunoyer, who took it from “the Master thesis of a former student working under his supervision, without the prior consultation or consent … Continue reading Investigation ends in 6th retraction for Voinnet

1+1 “identical” math papers = retraction

A paper on an equation useful in finance has been retracted after editors discovered an “identical” version had been published in another journal. The paper, “On the Parametric Interest of the Black-Scholes Equation,” was published in the Thai Journal of Mathematics. According to the introduction, that equation has a practical use: In financial mathematics, the famous … Continue reading 1+1 “identical” math papers = retraction

“Inability to reproduce” retracts inflammation paper

A 2015 paper on how proteins work to reduce inflammation in cow cells has been retracted by the authors “because of inappropriate statistical analysis and inability to reproduce some of the results.” The journal Inflammation posted the retraction in August, just six months after it was published in February. It has only been cited once, according … Continue reading “Inability to reproduce” retracts inflammation paper