Scientist threatening to sue PubPeer claims he lost a job offer because of comments

Last month, PubPeer announced that a scientist had threatened to sue the site for defamation. At the time, all PubPeer would say was that the “prospective plaintiff” is a US researcher” who was “aggrieved at the treatment his papers are getting on our site.” Today, PubPeer revealed the that the prospective plaintiff was Fazlul Sarkar, … Continue reading Scientist threatening to sue PubPeer claims he lost a job offer because of comments

PubPeer Selections: “Meta-rant” about Science paper; posting raw data satisfies critics; was gel splicing ever OK?

Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections:

PubPeer Selections: Retracted papers, published elsewhere

Here’s another installment of PubPeer Selections:

PubPeer Selections: Boosting memory in Science, extending lifespan in Nature, quantum anesthesia in PNAS

As Retraction Watch readers probably know, we’re big fans of PubPeer, the post-publication peer review site that allows comments on papers. Discussions there have led to a number of corrections and retractions, and even more importantly, authors are starting to respond to clarify results, acknowledge errors, or otherwise advance knowledge. After all, as we often … Continue reading PubPeer Selections: Boosting memory in Science, extending lifespan in Nature, quantum anesthesia in PNAS

Weekend reads: Peer review abuse, a journal that will print anything for $1,200, PubPeer faces legal threats

Another busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Authors retract Current Biology study following criticism on PubPeer and university investigation

The authors of a Current Biology paper published online in February of this year have retracted it after voluminous criticism on post-publication review site PubPeer and a university committee found evidence of figure manipulation. The paper, “Agonist-Induced GPCR Shedding from the Ciliary Surface Is Dependent on ESCRT-III and VPS4,” was co-authored by Hua Jin and … Continue reading Authors retract Current Biology study following criticism on PubPeer and university investigation

Brutal honesty: Author takes to PubPeer to announce retraction — and tells us she’ll lose PhD, professorship

Over the past week, there have been a number of comments on PubPeer — a site of which we’re big fans — about a 2007 paper in Oncogene. The comments suggested that the figures in the paper had problems. Some bands seemed to be duplicated, and one of the images looked very much like that … Continue reading Brutal honesty: Author takes to PubPeer to announce retraction — and tells us she’ll lose PhD, professorship

Author with six recent corrections retracts JBC paper questioned on PubPeer

Rakesh Kumar, a professor at the George Washington University, has retracted a paper in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) that was recently questioned on PubPeer. Here are Peer1’s comments from PubPeer about the paper, “Mechanism of MTA1 Protein Overexpression-linked Invasion:”

Authors withdraw already-corrected JBC paper questioned on PubPeer

An assistant professor of neuroscience at Tufts has withdrawn a paper published last year after one round of corrections wasn’t enough to fix all of the study’s problems. The study, “Sirtuin 2 (SIRT2) enhances 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced nigrostriatal damage via deacetylating forkhead box O3a (Foxo3a) and activating Bim protein,” by Gizem Donmez and colleagues, had already … Continue reading Authors withdraw already-corrected JBC paper questioned on PubPeer

Harvard researcher’s work faces scrutiny after private equity deal

Just as a Harvard lab brought in tens of millions of dollars in private equity funding to pursue new treatments for obesity, past research from its lead investigator has come under fresh scrutiny.  Last month, the lab of Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, a professor of genetics and metabolism at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, secured … Continue reading Harvard researcher’s work faces scrutiny after private equity deal