Ten days after retracting nine papers from several journals because they were “lacking scientific base,” a publisher says it has “parted company” with the editor of five of the titles – who had authored or co-authored the papers in question.

As Retraction Watch reported last week, Thieme International retracted the papers, by Hüseyin Çaksen of Necmettin Erbakan University in Turkey, following criticism on social media and at least one story in the Turkish press. Yesterday, a Thieme account on X (formerly Twitter) posted:

We asked Thieme which editor the post referred to. A spokesperson told us:

In the matter you are referring to, we unfortunately discovered that Prof. Hüseyin Çaksen, in his function as the editor of five of our pediatric open access journals, had circumvented the allocation of roles, which is essential for a reliable peer review, without our knowledge. In doing so, he violated Thieme’s requirements and those of a proper peer review process. As a result, we have parted company with him with immediate effect.

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