Last month we wrote that Haruko Obokata, the Japanese stem cell researcher whose work is under a cloud of suspicion, had agreed to call for the retraction of one of two disputed Nature papers about her findings. Now Reuters is reporting that Obokata will ask for the second article to be pulled, as well (one … Continue reading Obokata agrees to retract both STAP stem cell papers: Report
Blood has an interesting retraction of a 2011 paper on what a group of authors claimed was a new cell line — but which proved, apparently, to be a chimera. The article, “Oxygen-regulated expression of the erythropoietin gene in the human renal cell line REPC,” came from a team at Universität Duisburg-Essen, in Germany, and … Continue reading Contaminated cells force retraction of Blood paper
Another very busy week at Retraction Watch. There were a lot of gems elsewhere. Here’s a sampling:
The authors of a paper in Physical Review Letters have retracted it, after another researcher pointed out a mistake. F. Sattin and D.F. Escande write in the notice for “Alfvénic Propagation: A Key to Nonlocal Effects in Magnetized Plasmas” (which is behind a paywall) that after the paper was published, they “we became aware of … Continue reading Doing the right thing: Physicists retract paper after becoming aware of “a fundamental error”
It’s not unusual to hear authors bemoan the fact that a new paper doesn’t cite their work that set the stage for a scientific advance. “The journal limited me to [a seemingly abitrary number of] references,” authors sometimes shrug, with or without apology. This week, however, we found a case of that which seems to … Continue reading Lack of citation prompts correction in Nature journal
Frontiers in Psychology, which last month formally retracted a controversial paper linking climate skepticism to conspiracy ideation, says it did not cave in to threats from skeptics, contrary to what a lot of news reports and commentary implied or claimed. For example, summarizing a number of those reports this morning, before Frontiers had issued its … Continue reading Journal that retracted conspiracy ideation-climate skepticism paper says it did not “cave into threats”
Last September we wrote about the case of Mart Bax, an anthropologist once of the Free University in Amsterdam who allegedly fabricated elements in some of his papers, and claimed to have written more than 60 that do not exist: Bax, who studied an Irish town he called Patricksville, a Dutch pilgrimage site he called … Continue reading First retraction appears for Dutch anthropologist Mart Bax
The Journal of Biology and Life Science, published by the Macrothink Institute, has retracted a paper that claimed “fossil does not provides [sic] the convincing and direct evidences for evolution,” for reasons that they left to us to figure out. The entire notice for “Fossils Evidences (Paleontology) Opposite to Darwin’s Theory,” allegedly written by Md. … Continue reading Entomologist surprised to find name on now-retracted paper alleging fossils oppose Darwin’s theory of evolution
A 2013 paper in Nature that was among those whose first or last author had committed a “violation of academic integrity,” according to Utrecht University, has been retracted. Here’s the notice: for “CLASP-mediated cortical microtubule organization guides PIN polarization axis,” whose corresponding author was Pankaj Dhonukshe:
Chemist Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo, of the Institute of Life Sciences in Bhubaneswar, India, has earned his sixth retraction for image shennanigans, this time in Applied Materials & Interfaces. Sahoo, as we reported last year, had lost five articles in Acta Biomaterialia for what the journal called “highly unethical practices.” The latest retraction involves an article … Continue reading SK Sahoo notches sixth retraction