Category Archives: china retractions
Chinese hospital sanctioned at least 35 scientists for research misconduct
Retractions are rolling along for numerous scientists affiliated with the Jining First People’s Hospital in Shandong, China, who were sanctioned in December for research misconduct such as tampering with data and fabricating research. For example, one article, “Lycium barbarum polysaccharides alleviates oxidative damage induced by H2O2 through down-regulating microRNA-194 in PC-12 and SH-SY5Y cells,” which … Continue reading Chinese hospital sanctioned at least 35 scientists for research misconduct
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Frontiers retracts a dozen papers, many more expected
The publisher Frontiers has retracted at least a dozen papers in the last month, after announcing an “extensive internal investigation” into “potentially falsified research.” Here’s an example of a notice, this one from Frontiers in Endocrinology for “Overexpression of microRNA-216a-3p Accelerates the Inflammatory Response in Cardiomyocytes in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus by Targeting IFN-α2,” which … Continue reading Frontiers retracts a dozen papers, many more expected
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Cancer journal with hefty retraction record retracts another 15
A cancer journal with a history of batch retractions has pulled 15 articles dating back to 2014 after concluding that they contained manipulated or misused images. As we reported in 2017, Tumor Biology was forced to retract 107 papers that had been corrupted by fake peer review – a record at the time. That move … Continue reading Cancer journal with hefty retraction record retracts another 15
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Researcher loses medical degree for using paper mill to write his dissertation
A university in China has revoked the medical degree of a researcher found guilty of having produced his dissertation with the help of a prodigious paper mill. As Elisabeth Bik noted last year in a post on PubPeer, the thesis by Bin Chen, a lung specialist at Soochow University, was one of 121 articles produced … Continue reading Researcher loses medical degree for using paper mill to write his dissertation
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Stem cell researchers lose two more papers, making three
A Hindawi journal has retracted two 2013 papers by a group of stem cell researchers in China over issues with the images in the articles, bringing their count to three. Here’s the notice for “Side-by-Side comparison of the biological characteristics of human umbilical cord and adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells,” by Lili Chen and colleagues … Continue reading Stem cell researchers lose two more papers, making three
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Study of China’s ethnic minorities retracted as dozens of papers come under scrutiny for ethical violations
A legal journal has retracted a 2019 article on the facial genetics of ethnic minorities in China for ethics violations, and the publisher, Springer Nature, is investigating more than two dozen other articles for similar concerns. The article, “Y Chromosomal STR haplotypes in Chinese Uyghur, Kazakh and Hui ethnic groups and genetic features of DYS448 … Continue reading Study of China’s ethnic minorities retracted as dozens of papers come under scrutiny for ethical violations
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Whistleblowers bring receipts, journal retracts swiftly
A group of researchers in China have lost a 2018 paper after whistleblowers informed the journal that the authors had misreported their data. The paper, “Long‐term outcomes of 530 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients with minimally invasive Ivor Lewis esophagectomy,” appeared in the Journal of Surgical Oncology, a Wiley publication. It has been cited five … Continue reading Whistleblowers bring receipts, journal retracts swiftly
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A paper on cats and female students uses up one of its nine lives
Facing a social media storm, a biology journal has temporarily removed a paper arguing that the proliferation of feral cats around university campuses in China is directly related to the proportion of female students — who evidently are more welcoming than men of the wild felines. The article, “Where there are girls, there are cats,” … Continue reading A paper on cats and female students uses up one of its nine lives
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A journal has its version of an NBA moment
Authors are calling “no traveling” on Liver Research for changing their affiliation without permission. Editors at the publication changed the affiliation of a group of researchers from several institutions in Taiwan– including the Taipei Veterans General Hospital and the National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, also in Taipei — to mainland China. The notice for … Continue reading A journal has its version of an NBA moment
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‘The problem is that there is no IL-26 gene in the mouse’ — an exasperated letter leads to a retraction
A group of ophthalmology researchers in China got caught trying to pull the wool over the eyes of readers by falsely claiming to have used a therapy that doesn’t exist. As its title would indicate, the article, “Anti-angiogenic effect of Interleukin-26 in oxygen-induced retinopathy mice via inhibiting NFATc1-VEGF pathway,” by a team from Jinhua Municipal … Continue reading ‘The problem is that there is no IL-26 gene in the mouse’ — an exasperated letter leads to a retraction
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