A major new report about the dramatic warming of the oceans cites a 2018 Nature paper on the topic that was retracted earlier this week — the same day, in fact, that the report dropped. But one of the authors of that paper tells Retraction Watch that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report, … Continue reading Did the IPCC’s new oceans report mean to cite a now-retracted paper?
A pair of perfume researchers in England have lost a 2019 paper on what makes a scent appealing because, ahem, something about the data didn’t smell quite right. The article was titled “Social success of perfumes,” and it appeared in July in PLOS ONE. There was a press release and a university writeup about the … Continue reading PLOS ONE retracts perfume study when data don’t pass the sniff test
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured a paper that used a mouse that doesn’t exist; the … Continue reading Weekend reads: Retract papers, win major awards; “citation doping;” authorship abuse
A highly controversial 2018 paper suggesting that too much bent-neck staring at your cell phone could sprout, in the words of one of the authors, a “horn” on the back of your head is — perhaps unsurprisingly — getting corrected. The article, “Prominent exostosis projecting from the occipital squama more substantial and prevalent in young … Continue reading ‘Text neck’ — aka ‘horns’ — paper earns corrections
A tenured professor of history at Columbia University will be stepping down at the end of next year after an investigating committee at the school found “incontrovertible evidence of research misconduct” in his controversial 2013 book. Charles King Armstrong, the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences, was found to have “cited … Continue reading Columbia historian stepping down after plagiarism finding
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured the retraction of a paper that claimed that scientists were … Continue reading Weekend reads: Citation manipulation gone wild; astrology meets research; a classic mistake in a study of free will
SAGE Publishing is today retracting 22 articles by a materials science researcher who published in two of their journals — but the anonymous reader who brought the problems to their attention says the author’s duplication affects more than 100 articles. Ali Nazari, now of Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, had five papers retracted earlier … Continue reading A publisher just retracted 22 articles. And the whistleblower is just getting started.
It’s no secret that retractions have a stigma, which is very likely part of why authors often resist the move — even when honest error is involved. There have been at least a few proposals to change the nomenclature for some retractions over the years, from turning them into “amendments” to a new taxonomy. Erica … Continue reading A publisher wants to destigmatize retractions. Here’s how.
As we’ve noted before, “the wheels of scientific publishing turn slowly … but they do (sometimes) turn.” More than six years after the first retraction for Erin Potts-Kant, who was part of a group at Duke whose work would unravel amid misconduct allegations and lead to a $112.5 million settlement earlier this year with the … Continue reading “Highly unusual and unfortunate error” delays retraction two years in high-profile Duke case
Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured a researcher at Northwestern who’s up to five retractions; a … Continue reading Weekend reads: The scale of misconduct in China; toxic peer reviews; license to publish?; an editorial revolt