A pharmacology researcher at the University of Pennsylvania is up to four retractions for problems with the data in his articles after a neurology journal pulled three papers late last month.  According to the Journal of Neurotrauma, a Mary Ann Liebert title, William Armstead – who holds a research professorship in Anesthesiology and Critical Care … Continue reading UPenn prof retracts three papers for ‘substantive questions’

If the writers of “Welcome Back, Kotter” wanted to issue a retraction statement, it might look something like this one from Mary Ann Liebert. We’ll call this one a hat tip to Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein, a Sweathog whose permission slips “from his mother” became a meme. The paper in question appeared … Continue reading Researchers in China send a hospital “declaration” clearing them of fraud. A journal doesn’t buy it.

“The retraction that took years” is a common enough refrain on Retraction Watch that it might as be its own genre. Here’s one that didn’t. A journal wasted no time pouncing on a suspect paper, retracting the 2016 article just three days after a commenter flagged concerns about the images in the work on PubPeer.  … Continue reading Often, retractions take years. This one took three days.

In 2016 Genetic Testing and Molecular Biomarkers published a paper on osteoarthritis by a group at Linyi People’s Hospital in China. Five years later, the authors contacted the journal asking for the correction of a pair of figures — but, as the publisher, Mary Ann Liebert, explained, the new files were “not workable.”  In May … Continue reading When authors stop responding to requests for data, a journal retracts

Last April, the The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine provisionally accepted  a paper on the role of music therapy in palliative care settings. Unfortunately for authors, the article did not grab the guest editors of the supplementary issue to which it had been designated. So far, so good. But a production error caused the … Continue reading Publisher does a “thorough sweep” of alternative medicine journal after a paper is published in error

Although it’s never too late to say sorry, sometimes the apology turns out to be worse than keeping quiet.  Consider the case of a group in China, who admitted that their 2020 paper on brain tumors was the work of a paper mill.  The article, “LncRNA SNHG16 Promotes Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion of Glioma Cells … Continue reading Here’s what happened when a publisher looked more closely at a paper milled paper

Carol Shoshkes Reiss describes it as “especially striking.” I have been Editor-in-Chief of DNA and Cell Biology for the last decade.  It has been rare for authors to request withdrawal of a paper they have submitted.  However, in the last two weeks, six papers have been withdrawn on request. What really puzzled Reiss, a professor … Continue reading ‘Striking’: Journal editor suspects paper mills behind rash of withdrawn manuscripts

A researcher who has had more than 40 papers questioned by scientific sleuths has lost a second to retraction. On December 14, Elisabeth Bik reported problems in 39 papers coauthored by Hua Tang, of Tianjin Medical University in China, to the editors of the journals that had published the papers. PubPeer commenters found problems in … Continue reading “This retraction is one of the fastest I ever experienced after reporting a paper to a journal editor.”

Pro tip to would-be fraudsters: If you’re going to submit new figures to support your claims, make sure they’re not obviously fake.  That’s a lesson a group of cancer researchers learned the hard way for their 2016 article in DNA and Cell Biology titled “Molecular mechanisms of disease full access miR-106a-5p suppresses the proliferation, migration, … Continue reading Researchers tried to correct a figure after questions on PubPeer. Then the real trouble started.

In the market for an admirably clear and concise retraction notice? Look no further!  A researcher in China has lost one — well, maybe two, more on that in a moment — 2015 articles for falsification of data and other misconduct. And one of the journals he tried to dupe is having none of it.  … Continue reading A tale of one exceedingly clear retraction notice, and two nonexistent ones