Dissertation in transition: Plagiarism leads to delisting of education thesis, lost PhD

The author of a doctoral dissertation on veterans education has lost the paper — and a mention of the work in a roster of theses — because he lifted text from a previously published dissertation from a student at another institution. Here’s the notice:

“Truly extraordinary,” “simply not credible,” “suspiciously sharp:” A STAP stem cell peer review report revealed

Retraction Watch readers are of course familiar with the STAP stem cell saga, which was punctuated by tragedy last month when one of the authors of the two now-retracted papers in Nature committed suicide. In June, Science‘s news section reported: Sources in the scientific community confirm that early versions of the STAP work were rejected … Continue reading “Truly extraordinary,” “simply not credible,” “suspiciously sharp:” A STAP stem cell peer review report revealed

This retraction has teeth: Journal changes publication policy after discovering misconduct

The Indian Society of Periodontology has changed their editorial policy as the result of an author who had “neither taken adequate permission from nor given due acknowledgement to all authors concerned.” Now, any authors will be required to sign a contract acknowledging accountability for the content of the submitted paper, as well as be able … Continue reading This retraction has teeth: Journal changes publication policy after discovering misconduct

Wasted breath: Cribbing earns retraction of anesthesia paper

The authors of a paper on anesthetic waste gases in the operating room have pulled the article for plagiarism. The paper, titled “Further Pieces of Evidence to the Pulmonary Origin of Sevoflurane Escaping to the Operating Room During General Anaesthesia,” appeared in Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics and came from a group at various institutions in … Continue reading Wasted breath: Cribbing earns retraction of anesthesia paper

Weekend reads: Publish a paper, get $10,000!; Lancet editor Horton under fire

Another busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: Publish a paper, get $10,000! “Following the publication in The Lancet last month of an open letter to the people of Gaza, a number of doctors have begun a petition to force editor-in-chief Richard Horton to resign. Should medical journals get political?

Hydrogen journal pulls palladium paper for data misuse

The International Journal of Hydrogen Energy is retracting a 2013 article for what appears to be the misappropriation of data. The paper,  titled “Hydrogen production by an anaerobic photocatalytic reforming using palladium nanoparticle on boron and nitrogen doped TiO2 catalysts,” was written by researchers from the Veltech Dr RR & Dr SR Technical University, in Chennai, … Continue reading Hydrogen journal pulls palladium paper for data misuse

Weekend reads: Dope-addicted doctors running drug trials; jailed for copyright violation?

Another busy week at Retraction Watch. Here’s what was happening elsewhere: “Why are dope-addicted, disgraced doctors running our drug trials?” asks Peter Aldhous. Could a biology student in Colombia be jailed for violating copyright?

Duplication earns retraction for nanomaterials paper that had already been corrected

After earning an erratum shortly after publication in 2009, a paper in Applied Physics Letters has now been retracted for the “regrettable mistake” of duplicating an earlier paper by the researchers. Here’s the notice for “Broadband and omnidirectional antireflection from conductive indium-tin-oxide nanocolumns prepared by glancing-angle deposition with nitrogen:”