Authors suspended as duplications sink papers on ship building

A pair of researchers affiliated with the University of Galati in Romania were suspended after duplicating work in their papers on materials used to build ships, earning them four retractions last year, and one the year before. According to Romanian newspaper Impact Est, in December an ethics committee found that co-authors Ionel Chirica and Elena-Felicia Beznea committed “a number of breaches of ethics,” including … Continue reading Authors suspended as duplications sink papers on ship building

Seven more retractions for anti-terrorism prof brings count to 15

Anti-terrorism researcher Nasrullah Memon has notched seven more retractions, bringing his total up to 15 — earning him a spot on our leaderboard. We previously reported on eight pulled papers authored by Memon, based at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. There was some confusion over whether his count then increased to nine — but, following … Continue reading Seven more retractions for anti-terrorism prof brings count to 15

Weekend reads: Another autism-vaccine fraud movie?; zombie papers; herbicide-cancer report taken down

The week at Retraction Watch featured an imposter editor and an author who threatened to sue a journal if it didn’t reverse a retraction. Here’s what was happening elsewhere:

Peer review scam leader now up to 20 retractions

We’ve unearthed four more retractions for Khalid Zaman, an economist who lost 16 papers in 2014 for orchestrating fake peer review. That brings Zaman’s total to 20, and ties him at the #18 spot on our leaderboard. One of the more recently discovered retractions is for fake peer review, attributed to Zaman; one is for plagiarism, and two … Continue reading Peer review scam leader now up to 20 retractions

Journal flags duplicated text by gynecologic cancer researcher with 13 retractions

When journals discover duplicated material, many choose to retract — but a cancer journal recently faced with the same dilemma involving a researcher with multiple retractions under his belt has instead decided to flag the paper with an expression of concern. An editor told us that Cancers considered retracting the paper, by gynecologic cancer researcher Noriyuki Takai, … Continue reading Journal flags duplicated text by gynecologic cancer researcher with 13 retractions

Book publisher: Authors plagiarized “in good faith” because they cited previous work

A publisher has retracted a chapter from a book on flow cytometry after determining the authors plagiarized some material — but noted that because the authors cited the article they lifted from, they likely acted “in good faith.” We were tipped off to this retraction from the authors of the review article the chapter plagiarized from, who … Continue reading Book publisher: Authors plagiarized “in good faith” because they cited previous work

Confusion reigns: Are these four retractions for compromised peer review, or not?

The Open Automation and Control Systems Journal has published five items this calendar year — and all of those are retraction notices. That’s what we’re sure about. Now to what we’re not clear on in this story, which is one of a growing number of cases we’ve seen in which so-called “predatory” publishers are starting … Continue reading Confusion reigns: Are these four retractions for compromised peer review, or not?

Research assistant fired for using student’s thesis in a paper

A research assistant at King Saud University (KSU) has lost his job after he used material from a student’s thesis without permission or attribution in a paper. Lakshmana Krishnappa was terminated after a disciplinary committee considered his case last November, the vice dean for postgraduate training and research at KSU told Retraction Watch. In April of last year, … Continue reading Research assistant fired for using student’s thesis in a paper

Engineer: Paper plagiarized my thesis — badly

An engineering journal has published a statement by a researcher alleging that a 2015 paper in the same journal plagiarized his thesis — and was so poorly done it “should not have been published.” In the “counterstatement” to the 2015 paper, Christian Seip of the Rostock University in Germany said the paper — about the development of a Marine Spatial Data Infrastructure (MSDI) … Continue reading Engineer: Paper plagiarized my thesis — badly