Category Archives: freely available
Glasgow professor leaves post amidst multiple retractions
A professor specializing in the health of children and pregnant women has left her post at the University of Glasgow, and issued three retractions in recent months. All three notices — issued by PLOS ONE — mention an investigation at the university, which found signs of data manipulation and falsification. Fiona Lyall, the last author … Continue reading Glasgow professor leaves post amidst multiple retractions
Posted by in freely available, misconduct investigations, PLoS, PLOS One, uk retractions
A journal just removed a 26-year-old article from its archives, with little explanation
This one gave us pause: A journal recently removed a 1992 paper, providing only a terse explanation — “The above article has been removed at the author’s request.” Author John Frank Nowikowski tells Retraction Watch he never submitted the article to the Police Journal; it was originally published in the Buenos Aires Herald in Argentina. He … Continue reading A journal just removed a 26-year-old article from its archives, with little explanation
Posted by in freely available, sage
Distraction paper pulled for clerical error
The authors of a 2018 paper on how noisy distractions disrupt memory are retracting the article after finding a flaw in their study. The paper, “Unexpected events disrupt visuomotor working memory and increase guessing,” appeared in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, a publication of the Psychonomic Society. (For those keeping score at home, psychonomics is the … Continue reading Distraction paper pulled for clerical error
A journal waited 13 months to reject a submission. Days later, it published a plagiarized version by different authors
When a researcher submitted a manuscript to a journal about multimedia tools, she was frustrated to wait 13 months for the journal to make a decision — only to have it reject the paper outright. So imagine how she felt when, days after the paper was rejected, she saw the journal had published a plagiarized … Continue reading A journal waited 13 months to reject a submission. Days later, it published a plagiarized version by different authors
Posted by in freely available, springer retractions
Nature cancer paper that raised animal welfare concerns is retracted
When Nature published a paper in 2011 describing a compound extracted from a pepper plant that appeared to kill cancer cells but leave healthy cells unscathed, it got some attention. Of course, the news caught the media’s eye, but also that of other researchers, who have since jumped on the concept, and continued to study … Continue reading Nature cancer paper that raised animal welfare concerns is retracted
Posted by in cancer biology, freely available, nature retractions
Medical ethicist: “I now understand that I should not have been re-using material”
A researcher in medical ethics has retracted two papers within the last two years after admitting to reusing material from previous publications. Ezio Di Nucci, based at the University of Copenhagen, claims he “had misunderstood the relevant practices.” The first retraction, issued in 2017 by the Journal of Value Inquiry, notes the paper “constituted the … Continue reading Medical ethicist: “I now understand that I should not have been re-using material”
Posted by in denmark retractions, duplication retractions, freely available
A publisher just retracted ten papers whose peer review was “engineered” — despite knowing about the problem of fake reviews for years
Many publishers have been duped by fake peer reviews, which have brought down more than 600 papers to date. But some continue to get fooled. Recently, SAGE retracted 10 papers published as part of two special collections in Advances in Mechanical Engineering after discovering the peer review process that had been managed by the guest … Continue reading A publisher just retracted ten papers whose peer review was “engineered” — despite knowing about the problem of fake reviews for years
Posted by in Advances Mech Eng, engineering, freely available, sage, self peer review
Researchers pull Nature paper over first author’s objections
Researchers have retracted a 2015 Nature paper about the molecular underpinnings of immune function after discovering they could not replicate key parts of the results. The first author, Wendy Huang — who started working as an assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, only months after the paper appeared — did not sign … Continue reading Researchers pull Nature paper over first author’s objections
After probe, journal removes flag from four papers, corrects manipulated images
Last year, Journal of Cell Science added notices to four papers after a reader contacted the editors with some concerns about issues with the figures. Now, it’s replacing the previous editorial notices with corrections, which address duplicated images and data. When the journal issued expressions of concern for four papers co-authored by José Ignacio Rodriguez-Crespo … Continue reading After probe, journal removes flag from four papers, corrects manipulated images
Fecal transplant paper pulled for “personal issue”
Last month, the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition pulled an article on fecal transplantation for a reason that, well, doesn’t pass the sniff test. The paper, by Sonia Michail of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, appeared online in October 2017 and described a randomized controlled trial of fecal transplants to treat kids with ulcerative colitis. … Continue reading Fecal transplant paper pulled for “personal issue”