Duplication has, as we noted on Twitter the other day, been tripping up more and more scientists. And now self-plagiarism has snared a prominent Columbia University chemist in a paper that left many people scratching their heads to begin with. As reported by the Chembark blog and Nature, the Journal of the American Chemical Society … Continue reading JACS temporarily pulls “space dinosaurs” paper for alleged duplication
Cytokine had an interesting retraction notice this year that points up the pitfalls — perhaps necessary, perhaps not — that journals can step in when they give authors the benefit of the doubt. Here’s the story: A doctoral student named Varun Kesherwani was working in the lab of Ajit Sodhi, a U.S.-trained and well-published cell biologist … Continue reading Authors’ public dispute over retraction notice in Cytokine ends in a draw, bruises journal
A group of cancer researchers from Tunisia has been seeding the oncology literature with plagiarized articles that steal liberally — both text and data — from the work of others. The group has one retraction, in the journal Obesity — whose splash page has the jaunty, if disconcerting, invite: “Welcome to Obesity!” — and at … Continue reading Whistling the same Tunisia: Serial plagiarists plague the oncology literature
Have a seat, this one’s a howler. According to a retraction notice for “Computer application in mathematics,” published in Computers & Mathematics with Applications:
Perhaps it’s appropriate given the Easter season, but we have learned that Naoki Mori, the Japanese cancer researcher who received a 10-year publishing ban from the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) for imagine manipulation, has published a new paper. Mori, who was fired and then rehired by the University of the Ryukyus over the scandal, … Continue reading Back in the saddle: After more than 30 retractions, Naoki Mori publishing again
The retraction count for Dipak Das, the resveratrol researcher whom the University of Connecticut found to have committed 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data, has risen to eight with withdrawals by Free Radical Biology & Medicine and Free Radical Research. The two Free Radical Biology & Medicine retractions, for “Expression of the longevity … Continue reading Three more retractions for resveratrol researcher Dipak Das, in free radical journals
Bharat B. Aggarwal, the MD Anderson researcher under investigation at his institution over concerns of image manipulation, has withdrawn a second paper, although you’d never know why from the statement. The notice for the article, “Evidence for the critical roles of NF-κB p65 and specificity proteins in the apoptosis-inducing activity of proteasome inhibitors in leukemia … Continue reading Another withdrawal by MD Anderson’s Aggarwal, again for unclear reasons
Alzheimer’s & Dementia has “temporarily withdrawn” a 2012 abstract, slated for publication next month, linking Alzheimer’s disease with exposure to dental x-rays. The author is Caroline Rodgers, a self-described “independent writer/researcher who investigates public health issues and advocates for change.” Although we can’t find the text, we’re guessing that its premise is similar to that … Continue reading Dental X-rays linked to Alzheimer’s disease? Abstract saying so temporarily withdrawn
The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia has retracted a paper by a group of Israeli authors whose study may not have had appropriate ethical approval — or even collected the reported data. The article, “Accidental venous and dural puncture during epidural analgesia in obese parturients (BMI > 40 kg/m2): three different body positions during insertion,” was … Continue reading Anesthesia journal editor says “if you blow us off, it will be retracted,” and sticks to his word
The journal Cell has an interesting — and somewhat puzzling — correction this month that we’ll add to our “mega-correction” file. At issue is a paper, published in October, from the lab of Harvard’s Stephen Elledge, a noted genetics researcher, whose first author is a post-doc there named Michael Emanuele. According to the notice, Emanuele (singled … Continue reading Cell runs a lengthy correction, rather than retraction, for image problems