Applied Sciences has retracted a 2012 article by a researcher whose efforts to model a particular kind of explosion called a shaped charge proved to be a dud. The paper, “Steady State Analytical Equation of Motion of Linear Shaped Charges Jet Based on the Modification of Birkhoff Theory,” was written by Seokbin Lim, a mechanical engineer in … Continue reading Simulation slip-up leads to retraction of explosives paper
A research group in Scotland has retracted a paper in the Biochemical Journal after failed attempts to reproduce a key finding of the study. Here’s the notice:
A pair of authors from Italy has retracted their 2012 article in the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine for including chunks of text with a “high degree of similarity” from other published sources. But rest assured: the authors, we’re told, didn’t intend to do so. The article, “Central venous catheterization and thrombosis in newborns: … Continue reading Virtually verbatim text earns retraction of neonate paper, gives authors a pass
The authors of an article in the International Journal of Biological Macromolecules have pulled the paper in what appears to be an authorship dispute sparked by premature submission. The paper, “Renaturation and one step purification of the chicken GIIA secreted phospholipase A2 from inclusion bodies,” came from a group of researchers in Tunisia and Marseille, … Continue reading Retraction for iffy data as authors of chicken enzyme paper lay an egg
The Journal of Multivariate Analysis has retracted a paper it was never meant to publish — a problem, it seems, of multivariate analyses. The article, titled “Regression estimation with locally stationary long-memory errors,” came from a pair of statisticians in Chile, Wildredo Palma and Guillermo Ferreira. It appears that the article did not pass muster … Continue reading Editor inadvertently spurns reviewers; retraction ensues
Every now and then, we see retraction notices that refer vaguely to legal issues. Sometimes, we can dig up the actual reason. But the European Biophysics Journal has two retractions that leave us completely in the dark. The two notices basically say the same thing. Here’s one:
Last week, we covered the complicated story of a paper by Stephan Lewandowsky and colleagues that had been removed — or at least all but the abstract — from its publisher’s site. Our angle on the story was how Frontiers, which publishes Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences, where the study appeared, had handled … Continue reading Update: Lewandowsky et al paper on conspiracist ideation “provisionally removed” due to complaints
Plagiarism and duplication might involve the same act — the misuse of text and/or data — but they are different species. Take it from Eldon Smith, who as editor of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology defined the two acts of misconduct for his readers: Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results or … Continue reading Retraction Watch, Noah Webster style, cardiology edition
Here’s a thought: If you’re going to write about the “challenges of information and communication technology,” it’s probably best not to use the Internet to plagiarize. We’re guessing a group of researchers from Serbia is kicking themselves over missing that memo. The researchers, from Singidunum University in Belgrade, published a 2012 paper in Renewable and … Continue reading Not-smart moves in “smart homes” paper prompt retraction
For several months now, we’ve been reporting on variations on a theme: Authors submitting fake email addresses for potential peer reviewers, to ensure positive reviews. In August, for example, we broke the story of a Hyung-In Moon, who has now retracted 24 papers published by Informa because he managed to do his own peer review. … Continue reading Elsevier editorial system hacked, reviews faked, 11 retractions follow