Article Retraction Watch Updates

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Nobel prize-winner tallies two more retractions, bringing total to 13[/b[
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/13/n...tal-to-13/

A Nobel prize-winning genetics researcher has retracted two more papers, bringing his total to 13.

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[b]‘Stealth corrections’: when journals quietly fix papers
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/12/s...ix-papers/

Last March, René Aquarius noticed some overlapping patterns in a figure about a 2016 study on the blood-brain barrier. So he took to PubPeer, an online site where scientists often discuss papers, to raise his concerns.

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Penn State prof earns second retraction, faces third following university probe
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/11/p...ity-probe/

A professor of biomedical engineering at the Pennsylvania State University today lost a government-funded study in Science Advances, marking her second retraction.

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Former Harvard cancer researcher plagiarized data, federal watchdog says
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/10/f...hdog-says/

A former research fellow at Harvard Medical School faked data and used images from another scientist without attribution in a published paper and two grant applications, according to findings from the U.S. Office of Research Integrity.

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Pakistan university’s pharmacy department chair notches two retractions
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/09/p...tractions/

Kashif Barkat, who heads the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Lahore in Punjab, Pakistan, has had two of his studies retracted and two more corrected, all for issues related to images in the papers. Several more of his studies are flagged on PubPeer for similar reasons. [/b]

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Penn State barred embattled professor from doing research
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/20/p...-research/

The Pennsylvania State University in May blocked a prominent professor at the school from doing research and making presentations on its behalf...

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Exclusive: Editorial board member quits over journal’s handling of plagiarized paper
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/20/e...zed-paper/

An architecture journal’s “failure to act in a timely and proactive manner” in a case of plagiarism in a now-retracted review article has sparked the resignation of a member of its editorial board...

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Exclusive: Providence VA hires scientist previous employer found had harassed mentees
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/19/e...d-mentees/


The University of Iowa found a cardiology researcher violated multiple of its policies, including harassing his former mentees when they tried to leave his lab to establish labs of their own...

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First paper retracted in string of studies using the wrong medication name
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/17/f...tion-name/

A scientific sleuth and a mother who nearly lost her daughter to a hormonal condition teamed up in January to flag a series of papers that misnamed a medication for pregnant women. They have recently started to see the fruits of their labors: one retraction and three corrections.

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Exclusive: One university’s three-year battle to retract papers with fake data
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/17/a...fake-data/

In 2021, the provost of the University of Maryland, Baltimore sounded the alarm about a troubling batch of papers from the lab of Richard Eckert, the former chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the institution. But more than three years later, the results of those alerts are mixed...

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Homeopathy for cancer paper extensively corrected after watchdog agency requested retraction
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/26/h...etraction/

A paper that claimed to show a homeopathic intervention improved quality of life and survival for people with advanced lung cancer has received an extensive correction two years after a research integrity watchdog asked the journal to retract the article over concerns about manipulated data, Retraction Watch has learned. The two scientists who sounded the alarm on the paper are not satisfied with the correction, they told us...

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Publisher adds temporary online notifications to articles “under investigation”
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/25/p...stigation/

Some journal articles on the Taylor & Francis website now bear a pop-up notification stating the papers are “currently under investigation.” The publisher began adding the notices to articles such as this one in June, according to a spokesperson, as a way to inform readers about an ongoing investigation “so that they can exercise appropriate caution when considering the research presented.”

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1 in 7 scientific papers is fake, suggests study that author calls ‘wildly nonsystematic’
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/24/1...ystematic/

In 2009, a now highly-cited study found an average of around 2% of scientists admit to have falsified, fabricated, or modified data at least once in their career. Fifteen years on, a new analysis tried to quantify how much science is fake – but the real number may remain elusive, some observers said.

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Pain researcher in Italy up to seven retractions
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/03/p...tractions/

A physiatrist in Italy has lost four publications this year after two groups of researchers raised concerns about his research. The physician had three papers pulled in 2022, as reported at the time. Those retractions followed a critique by Cochrane researchers who analyzed data in 10 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) headed by him

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New engineering dean has two retractions for authorship manipulation
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/02/n...ipulation/

A newly appointed dean at the University of Guelph in Canada has had two papers retracted for “evidence of authorship manipulation.” Another article by the researcher, seems to match a paper that had its authorship advertised for sale, according to a post on PubPeer. He stands by his group’s work in the two retracted papers, but agreed with the retractions because he thought the investigations “raised some valid concerns.”

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Hidden hydras: uncovering the massive footprint of one paper mill’s operations
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/01/h...perations/

At the heart of any paper mill’s operations sits an unavoidable contradiction. On the one hand, paper mills must keep their operations clandestine lest they be discovered and have their clients’ articles retracted en masse. On the other, paper mills must make themselves visible to some degree to attract new customers. [...] About a year ago, we began probing search engines ... Sure enough, one of our first searches directed us to the front page of the Academic Research and Development Association (ARDA), based in Chennai, India. ARDA presents itself as a professional organization...

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Web of Science puts mega-journals Cureus and Heliyon on hold
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/30/w...n-on-hold/

[i]Web of Science, Clarivate’s influential database of abstracts and citations, has paused indexation of new content from the open-access journals Heliyon and Cureus, apparently due to concerns about the quality of their articles.

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A journal switches to a new publisher, then corrects a paper. What should happen to the old version?
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/11/a...d-version/

In January 2022, The Oncologist switched publishers from Wiley to Oxford University Press. Last month, the journal issued an extensive correction for one of its most popular articles [....] The article page that remains on Wiley’s website, however, does not reflect the recent correction...

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Retractions begin for chemist found to have faked data in 42 papers
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/10/r...42-papers/

A nanotube researcher in Japan has earned 13 retractions, with more to come, after an extensive investigation by the country’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) revealed widespread misconduct in his work...

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Exclusive: Cancer researchers in Iran under investigation as questions swirl around dozens of studies
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/09/e...f-studies/

Year after year, a husband-and-wife team at a university in Iran has been publishing studies involving research on cell lines ostensibly purchased from the Pasteur Institute of Iran, in Tehran. But the couple may never have been in possession of the cells...

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Former Columbia University psychiatrist committed research misconduct, says federal watchdog
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/08/f...-watchdog/

A psychiatry researcher who received a warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this year committed research misconduct, another federal watchdog found...

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After saying it would retract an article, Cureus changed its mind
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/08/a...-its-mind/

Given the circumstances and details presented by both parties in this dispute, the journal has elected not to proceed with immediate retraction and instead request that formal investigations by each of your institutions be conducted in order to resolve this matter. Upon reviewing the results of both investigations, the journal will take the action deemed appropriate in light of the facts presented...

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Plagiarizing papers retracted from engineering journal after Retraction Watch report
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/18/p...ch-report/

An Elsevier journal has retracted three papers for plagiarism after more than a year of inaction....

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Psychology journal apologizes for paper with ‘biased language’ about Tibet
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/17/p...out-tibet/

Editors of a psychology journal have published a lengthy apology for failing to identify “biased” language and information in a paper about racial prejudice of Tibetan children against Han Chinese...

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Springer Nature journal has retracted over 200 papers since September
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/15/s...september/

Optical and Quantum Electronics, a Springer Nature journal, has retracted more than 200 papers since the start of September, and continues issuing retraction notices en masse...

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Journal pulls pesticide article a year after authors engaged lawyer to fight retraction decision
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/14/j...-decision/

A public health journal has retracted an article on unintentional pesticide poisonings a year after the authors enlisted a lawyer’s help to fight the decision...

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eLife latest in string of major journals put on hold from Web of Science
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/24/e...f-science/

Citing eLife’s unusual practice of publishing articles without accepting or rejecting them, Clarivate says it is re-evaluating the inclusion of the open-access biology journal in Web of Science, its influential database of abstracts and citations.

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Cambridge researcher pulls Cell paper five years after Nature, Science retractions
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/23/c...tractions/

A cancer researcher at the University of Cambridge in the UK has retracted a paper from Cell after commenters on PubPeer questioned aspects of 10 images in the article...

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Young employee’s death puts workplace culture in spotlight at publisher MDPI
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/22/y...sher-mdpi/

The sudden death of a 27-year-old woman in the Romania offices of MDPI, a major open-access publisher with a worldwide presence, has grabbed national headlines and raised questions about the conditions under which the firm’s employees work...

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Reflecting on research misconduct: What’s next for the watcher community?
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/21/r...community/

Daryl Chubin wrote that in 1985 — a time when institutions we now take for granted, like the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, did not yet exist. We asked him to reflect on what has happened in the intervening four decades...

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How an article estimating deaths from hydroxychloroquine use came to be retracted
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/01/h...retracted/

An article estimating how many people might have died during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the off-label use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitals was retracted in August after advocates for the drug launched a campaign criticizing the study. ... the journal stood by its decision to retract the article due to “some clear fatal flaws” identified in letters to the editor, which it said it declined to publish due to their tone it deemed “not suitable for publication in a scientific journal.”

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Meet the founder of a 100,000-strong Facebook group driving change in scientific integrity in Vietnam
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/31/m...n-vietnam/

We asked Van Tu Duong, a researcher at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA, who founded the group, to tell us more about the history of the effort. This email interview has been lightly edited for flow and clarity...

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Highly cited engineer offers guaranteed publication, citations in return for coauthorship
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/30/h...uthorship/

We emailed Shariati to ask how he was able to guarantee publication and citations even before seeing the manuscripts he suggested coauthoring. We have not heard back...

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Declaration of Helsinki revision adds nod to research misconduct
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/10/28/d...isconduct/

The Declaration of Helsinki on ethical principles for research involving human participants now includes a statement on scientific integrity and research misconduct...

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Complaint from engineering software company prompts two retractions
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/08/c...tractions/

An engineering journal has retracted two papers after a company complained the authors of the articles used its software without a valid license. Both retracted papers were published by "Ain Shams Engineering Journal" in the last couple of years by different authors based in Egypt....

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Another Springer Nature journal has retracted over 300 papers since July
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/07/a...ince-july/

Soft Computing, a Springer Nature title, has retracted at least 335 papers this year, many from issues with guest editors. The mass retractions began in July, with the latest appearing November 4...

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University of Newcastle investigating top melanoma researchers
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/04/u...searchers/

Commenters on PubPeer have posted questions about the data in 42 papers by Peter Hersey and Xu Dong Zhang, both well-known in Australian melanoma research. So far, two of the papers have been retracted and four corrected...

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Embattled rocket scientist loses paper following Retraction Watch report
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/04/e...ch-report/

A controversial rocket scientist in India earned his fourth retraction in October after an investigation at a physics journal found a core part of his work was “inaccurate and paradoxical.”...

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Mega journal Cureus kicks out organizations critics called paper mills
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/21/m...per-mills/

The embattled mega journal Cureus has closed six of its so-called “academic channels,” which it bills as low-cost publication platforms that “will turn your organization into a publishing powerhouse,” Retraction Watch has learned. The move follows a joint investigation in May by Science and Retraction Watch that found several organizations critics described as dressed-up paper mills had their own channels at the medical journal...

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‘Relieved’: BMJ retracts and replaces article on unexpected weight loss as a sign of cancer
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/20/r...of-cancer/

The British Medical Journal has retracted an article examining when unexpected weight loss could be a warning sign of cancer after the authors found an error in their work. The journal published an updated version of the analysis with different conclusions, which the authors think could influence patient care...

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Cancer specialist faked data in at least ten papers, VA and UCLA find
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/19/c...ucla-find/

A multiple myeloma specialist “recklessly“ falsified data in at least 10 published articles, according to a joint investigation by the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System...

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Wiley corrects retraction notices for ‘inaccurate’ description of why articles were pulled
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/18/w...re-pulled/

The Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, a Wiley title, has corrected a pair of retraction notices in which “the reasons for the retraction were described inaccurately,” according to the corrections. The original notices also did not include “the authors’ disapproval of the retraction.”