A journal has retracted six papers by a cancer researcher at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, bringing his total to 10. The retractions cite an investigation by the university, and detail problems ranging from duplicated images, to tweaking an image to conceal particular bands, to including unreliable data. Three of the papers had already been flagged … Continue reading Cancer researcher logs 6 retractions, bringing total to 10
A diabetes researcher with eight retractions — despite his attempts to block some in court — has received a new batch of research funding. According to a release from public funding agency Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP), Mario Saad is among 33 researchers who will receive funding from partnerships between … Continue reading New funding for researcher who sued to stop retractions (and now has 8)
A new analysis of retractions from Korean journals reveals some interesting trends. For one, the authors found most papers in Korean journals are retracted for duplication (57%), a higher rate than what’s been reported in other studies. The authors also deemed some retractions were “inappropriate” according to guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) … Continue reading What do retractions look like in Korean journals?
A biologist in New Jersey has retracted two more papers, bringing his total to eight retractions, following a finding by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI). The analysis of the work of John Pastorino, previously a cell biologist at Rowan University, in Glassboro, concluded that he had doctored more than 40 images, resulting in a five-year … Continue reading Biologist with five-year funding ban earns 7th and 8th retractions
A medical journal in Romania has issued a lifetime ban for a researcher after retracting four of his papers. Since April, the Romanian Journal of Internal Medicine (RJIM) retracted nine papers (eight for plagiarism, one for duplication); four of these were co-authored by Manole Cojocaru, a researcher at the Titu Maiorescu University (TMU) in Bucharest, Romania. Subsequently, … Continue reading Romanian journal bans author following 4 retractions
A biomaterials researcher has lost four more papers for figure-related issues such as duplications, bringing his total to seven retractions. We previously reported on three retractions — two by the Journal of Controlled Release (JCR) — of papers co-authored by Hossein Hosseinkhani, who is currently based at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology … Continue reading Four more retractions for biomaterials researcher brings total to 7
An erstwhile cell biologist has retracted five papers published in the Journal of Cell Science (JCS), all of which had been flagged in a recent investigation by the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI). The investigation found John Pastorino, previously a cell biologist at Rowan University in New Jersey, guilty of doctoring more than 40 … Continue reading Five more retractions for biologist with funding ban brings total to six
The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) has asked a journal to retract two papers after revealing a former employee manipulated data. The report does not name the individual nor the journal, but notes that they work in a molecular field, and are currently employed by a university outside The Netherlands. According to a news release about … Continue reading Leiden requests two retractions over misconduct
If authors duplicate portions of their own work in multiple papers — such as descriptions of methods, a boilerplate background to their field, etc. — should that be considered misconduct? Of course, to many journals, duplication — also known as “self-plagiarism” is a retractable offense. A recent letter to the U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) from … Continue reading Poll: Is duplication misconduct?
A sixth retraction has appeared for a diabetes researcher who previously sued a publisher to try to stop his papers from being retracted. Mario Saad‘s latest retraction, in PLOS Biology, stems from inadvertent duplications, according to the authors. Though an investigation at Saad’s institution — the University of Campinas in Brazil — found no evidence of misconduct, a critic … Continue reading Researcher who sued to stop retractions gets his sixth