Search Results for: nature

Weekend reads: How to kill zombie citations; wanted: 6,000 new journals; does peer review matter anymore?

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 retraction and replacement of a diet study in the … Continue reading Weekend reads: How to kill zombie citations; wanted: 6,000 new journals; does peer review matter anymore?

Two years of stonewalling: What happened when a scientist filed a public records request for NASA code

Retraction Watch readers may know Nathan Myhrvold, who holds a PhD in physics, as the former chief technology officer at Microsoft, or as the author of Modernist Cuisine. They may also recall that he questioned a pair of papers in Nature about dinosaurs. In that vein, he has also been raising concerns about papers describing … Continue reading Two years of stonewalling: What happened when a scientist filed a public records request for NASA code

Weekend reads: Scientists citing themselves; gender and clinical trials; jail after plagiarism

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 allegations of text reuse by a Harvard professor, news about … Continue reading Weekend reads: Scientists citing themselves; gender and clinical trials; jail after plagiarism

Misconduct probe of once rising star prompts retraction of cat’s meow paper

A group of Australian researchers who studied the cat’s meow as a model for urinary incontinence and other motor-neural issues in people have lost a 2015 paper in the wake of a misconduct investigation. The target of the inquiry was Hari Subramanian, a former senior research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, part of the … Continue reading Misconduct probe of once rising star prompts retraction of cat’s meow paper

Congrats! Your paper was accepted. (Except if the acceptance letter was forged.)

You’ve worked hard on your research, spent time writing it up, and finally, the good news comes: The journal you submitted to has accepted your paper. Trouble is, for multiple authors, that good news turns bad — the acceptance was fake. Recently, in Scholarly Kitchen, Angela Cochran,  Associate Publisher, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), … Continue reading Congrats! Your paper was accepted. (Except if the acceptance letter was forged.)

See a paper you like? PubPeer wants to help you create a “journal” around it

Not everyone is happy with journals these days — researchers in artificial intelligence have announced they were boycotting a new Nature journal for being subscription-only, and universities are cancelling subscriptions over fees. The founders of PubPeer — a site dedicated to commentary about already published papers — are trying a different approach. Today, the PubPeer … Continue reading See a paper you like? PubPeer wants to help you create a “journal” around it

Weekend reads: Ghostwritten thesis apps; discriminatory authorship rules; group up to 14 retractions

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 featured a paper by Kim Kardashian, four retractions for an author who … Continue reading Weekend reads: Ghostwritten thesis apps; discriminatory authorship rules; group up to 14 retractions

Weekend reads: Science is “show me,” not “trust me;” pressure to publish survey data; what peer review misses

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 University of Alabama’s request for 20 retractions of papers … Continue reading Weekend reads: Science is “show me,” not “trust me;” pressure to publish survey data; what peer review misses

U.S. government research watchdog pulls newsletter without explanation

The U.S. Office of Research Integrity has removed an issue of its quarterly newsletter, without including a public notice explaining why. The main website for the newsletter — published since 1993 — is now missing the March 2017 edition. A spokesperson for the agency told Retraction Watch:

Sturgeon researcher nets 13 retractions for fake peer review

A fish scientist in Iran has now lost 13 papers about the properties of Sturgeon sperm — try saying that five times fast — and other ichthyological topics over concerns about faked peer review. The three most recent retractions come from the Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition. According to the notice: