Monica Acalovschi is serious about ridding the literature of duplicate publications.

That would seem to be the message of two new retraction notices in the Journal of Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases, which Acalovschi edits — two retractions that join another for similar reasons, which we covered earlier this year.

Here are the notices, from the June issue of the journal (but which were just indexed by Medline):

For “Intestinal Pseudo-obstruction – a Rare Condition with Heterogeneous Etiology and Unpredictable Outcome. A Case Report:”

Eugen Florin Georgescu, Ion Vasile, Ana Claudia Georgescu. Intestinal Pseudo-obstruction – a Rare Condition with Heterogeneous Etiology and Unpredictable Outcome. A Case Report. J Gastrointestin Liver Dis March 2008: 17 (1); 77-80

The Editor-in-Chief has been informed that the above mentioned article has very closed similarities with the article: Intestinal pseudo-obstruction: An uncommon condition with heterogeneous etiology and unpredictable outcome, published by Eugen Florin Georgescu, Ion Vasile, Reanina Ionescu in the World J Gastroenterol 2008 February 14; 14 (6): 954-959.

After checking both articles, it was obvious for the Editors that the same case report was presented with much similarity in both journals.

According to the Guidelines of the International Committee of Publication Editors (COPE) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) this is duplicate publication. The decision was taken to retract the article from the J Gastrointestin Liver Dis, which chronologically was the second publication. The authors have been informed about this decision.

The paper has been cited four times, according to Google Scholar.

For “Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia As a Cause of Cardiorespiratory Failure and Visceral Obstruction in Late Pregnancy:”

Nikolaos Barbetakis, Andreas Efstathiou, Michalis Vassiliadis, Ioannis Fessatidis. Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia As a Cause of Cardiorespiratory Failure and Visceral Obstruction in Late Pregnancy. J Gastrointestin Liver Dis June 2006: 15 (2); 185-188

The Editor-in-Chief has been informed that the above mentioned article has very closed similarirites with the article: Bochdaleck’s hernia complicating pregnancy: Case report, published by Nikolaos Barbetakis, Andreas Efstathiou, Michalis Vassiliadis, Theocharis Xenikakis, Ioannis Fessatidis in the World J Gastroenterol 2006 April 21;
12(15):2469-2471.

After checking both articles, it was obvious for the Editors that the same case report was presented with great similarity in both journals, without referencing and mentioning the first publication in the manuscript submitted to our journal.

According to the Guidelines of the International Committee of Publication Editors (COPE) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) this is a duplicate publication. The decision was taken to retract the article from the J Gastrointestin Liver Dis, which chronologically was the second publication. The authors have been informed about this decision.

The work has been cited five times.