Scientific Integrity is an Oxymoron: From Retraction Watch

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Battling Bad Science

This is just from 2012 thus far. As you go through these you will see the same names appearing over and over again. Some of these articles are about this same issue, but some involve a number of different issues and over a period of years, as a result it can be clearly seen that these people have been getting away with this stuff for years. That clearly justifies my personal motto:

De Omnibus Dubitandum

(Question Everything!)

Twenty More Retractions For Scientist Who Made Up e-mail Addresses So He Could Review His Own Papers

Hyung-In Moon, the South Korean plant compound researcher who came up with fake email addresses so that he could do his own peer review, has retracted twenty more papers, all in Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, an Informa Healthcare title. The notice is the same as for the four others Moon retracted from Informa journals:

 The peer-review process for all of the above articles was found to have been compromised and inappropriately influenced by the corresponding author, Professor Hyung-In Moon. As a result the findings and conclusions of these articles cannot be relied upon.

 The corresponding author and the publisher wish to retract these papers to preserve the integrity of material published in the journal. The publisher acknowledges that the integrity of the peer review process should have been subject to more rigorous verification to ensure the reviews provided were genuine and impartial. The publisher apologizes for any inconvenience rendered to the readers of the journal and wishes to assure the reader that measures have been taken to ensure that the peer review process is comprehensively checked to avoid a similar error occurring.

 The retractions bring Moon’s total to 31 — 24 from this episode, and seven from several years ago.

 

Journal Editor Resigns in Wake of Retractions for Fake e-mail Addresses That Enabled Self-Peer Review!

In the case of Hyung-In Moon — the researcher who faked email addresses for potential peer reviewers so he could do his own peer review — has already led to one resignation.

Emilio Jirillo, the editor of Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, which retracted 20 of Moon’s papers, stepped down earlier this year in the wake of the case, Retraction Watch has learned.

German University Calls Whistleblower’s e-mails Dangerous

In an unusual move, a German university has issued a statement calling into question “the scientific honesty” of a whistleblower, and suggesting that his emails were “dangerous.”

Some background: Off and on here at Retraction Watch, we have been following a complicated case involving Robert Nitsch, a scientist at the Johannes-Gutenberg-University. In August of last year, we reported on the retraction in the FASEB Journal of a paper on which Nitsch was a co-author. What made that retraction unusual was that it came after Charite – Universitatsmedizin Berlin, where Nitsch and some of his co-authors worked at the time, recommended a retraction even though the journal had originally agreed to a correction at the authors’ request. And a month later, we noted that Nitsch was a co-author on a Cell paper that was corrected for figure errors........

Authors Retract Digestion Paper For “Unacceptably High Numbers of Errors”.

A group of South Korean researchers has decided to withdraw a paper they recently published in the journal Digestion because it was filled with mistakes.

The paper, “Endoscopy-Based Decision Is Sufficient for Predicting Completeness in Lateral Resection Margin in Colon Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection,” was published earlier this year (and online in late 2011) by a group in Seoul. But according to the retraction notice:

Former Tokyo Tech Materials Researcher Sanctioned After Bringing Forward Evidence of Date Fabrication

A materials researcher faced three months without salary, retired from his research position and may have to return a portion of a grant worth $1 million US as punishment after a postdoc in his lab was caught fabricating data.

Seizo Miyata, formerly a materials researcher at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, headed a group that worked on carbon alloy catalysts. Last year, Miyata told Retraction Watch, he found evidence that postdoc Wu Libin had fabricated data.

Reached by Retraction Watch by phone, Miyata didn’t say who uncovered the evidence, nor how, but when he confronted Libin, the postdoc confessed. Miyata said he alerted Tokyo Tech administrators last year, and requested the retraction of “Preparation of carbon-based catalysts for PEFC cathodes from aromatic polyamide with Fe compound,” which appeared in Applied Catalysis A: General in July 2011. That retraction notice reads: Read the rest of this entry »

Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process

ORI finds Parkinson’s-pesticides researcher guilty of faking data; two papers to be retracted

The U.S. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has found that a neuroscientist who studied the effects of pesticides on a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease made up data.

As The Scientist reported on Friday, the ORI found that Mona Thiruchelvam faked cell counts in two grant applications and a number of papers that claimed to show how the pesticides paraquat, maneb, and atrazine might affect parts of the brain involved in Parkinson’s. The Scientist notes: Read the rest of this entry »

·         ORI finds Harvard stem cell lab post-doc Mayack manipulated images

·         Ulrich Lichtenthaler’s co-author removed from paper

·         Authors, including highly cited cancer researcher, blame “clerical error” for image mixup in paper

·         More shoes drop for Chinese author who made up peer reviewer addresses

·         A Wnt-er’s tale: Blood pulls second signaling paper from Spanish scientists over image fakery

·         South Korean plant compound researcher faked email addresses so he could review his own studies

·         Retraction number five for management professor Ulrich Lichtenthaler

·         Duplication earns highly cited prostate cancer researcher a correction in JCO

·         Author retracts PNAS paper about alleged Pliocene cheetah fossil that critics said was a fake

·         Anil Potti resurfaces with job at North Dakota cancer center

·         Seeing red (wine): Another retraction for Dipak Das, making count 13

·         We’re up to 13: Retractions keep coming for Diederik Stapel

·         Hypertension retracts paper over data glitch

·         Retraction four appears for management professor Ulrich Lichtenthaler

·         Authors retract nutrition review that plagiarized deceased researcher

·         Retraction number four appears in PNAS for work of Alirio Melendez, who has resigned post at U Liverpool

·         Anesthesia journal retracts paper from Estonian researchers in wake of legal inquiry

·         Boldt inquiry concludes: False findings in at least 10 studies, but no harm to patients

·         Mizzou investigating faculty as one heart beats as two in plagiarized — and now retracted — cardiac paper

·         Pharmacology journal expresses concern over “similar, but updated” review

·         Plagiarism costs Canadian lab-on-a-chip researcher a paper — in his own journal

·         Oh, snap: Cable wakeboarding injury paper falls to duplication

·         A correction for Alirio Melendez, in Journal of Cellular Physiology

·         University of Nebraska investigating work of lung researchers as journal issues Expression of Concern

·         Dental paper pulled for “unattributed overlap”

·         Cardiff University looking into allegations of misconduct by group headed by its dean of medicine

·         Happy second anniversary, Retraction Watch: Plus, our plans for year three

·         Family Practice affair: Diabetes paper pulled for redundancy, which journal calls “honest error”

·         Transparency in action: EMBO Journal detects manipulated images, then has them corrected before publishing

·         Psychological Science retracts a Sanna paper, citing lawyers, COPE…and Retraction Watch

·         Cancer journal pulls deeply flawed meeting abstract on breast surgery

·         Prostate cancer researcher who retracted two studies at center of lawsuit departs Hopkins

·         Statins without prescription website paper retracted after company says it requires scripts, threatens suit

·         Plagiarism topples paper co-authored by top tamoxifen scientist

·         Ovarian transplant update: Authors of 2004 live-birth follow-up letter ask Lancet to retract it

·         Buyer beware: Conflict Resolution Quarterly pulls paper for plagiarism

·         Fireworks: Belgian dispute over ovarian transplant findings includes claims of theft, arson

·         Biochemistry journal retracts paper for being, well, less than conclusive

·         Brazil statement urges culture of research integrity

·         Chinese mathematician forced to retract paper after two co-authors say they had nothing to do with work

·         What happens when a correction is retracted?

·         Three more retractions for Diederik Stapel

·         Another retraction for potential prostate cancer test from Hopkins

·         Amarin pulls a Romney: For the second time in a week, premature news of FDA drug approval posted, then retracted

·         Closing loop, Science retracts Hill group oxo paper

·         Two retractions in biophysics journal, one because article is “too preliminary and potentially misleading”

·         Hmmm: SAGE’s attorney explains why weight loss retraction notices said less than those of other journals

·         Another retraction for grad student who specializes in plagiarism and forging co-authors’ names

·         USA Today posts story on approval of diet drug too soon, takes it down

·         Three papers by German management prof retracted for duplication, statistical issues

·         Primate journal cites duplication in erratum, but does not retract

·         How can institutions prevent scientific misconduct?

·         Group retracts microRNA paper after realizing reagent was skewing results

·         University of Michigan psychologist resigns following concerns by statistical sleuth Simonsohn: Nature

·         Plagiarism leads to retraction of liver cancer paper

·         Elsevier parasitology journal retracts paper after finding author made up peer reviewer email addresses

·         When is it acceptable to use some of the same data in separate papers?

·         Pulp fiction: doubtful “veracity” leads to retraction of endodontics paper

·         Another opaque notice from the JBC, for paper author says is correct and valid

·         Science has “not asked for a correction or retraction” of arsenic life paper, and why situation is unlike XMRV-CFS

·         Noteworthy: Journal posts all the corrections it wanted in a climate change paper after authors refuse most

·         Despite refutation, Science arsenic life paper deserves retraction, scientist argues

·         Journal retracts antipsychotic study when all subjects’ PET scans turn out to be unreliable or invalid

·         Second helpings: Immunology journal retracts paper for plagiarism, then U Bari investigation reveals fraud

·         Is science becoming less honest? Join Retraction Watch in a live chat with Science

·         A first? Papers retracted for citation manipulation

·         Canada’s Memorial U says “substantial data misrepresentation” described by retraction notice was unintentional

·         Confusion as JNCI yanks press release on embargoed breast density-cancer study after authors see error

·         Journal of Neuroscience retracts federally funded Canadian study with “substantial data misrepresentation”

·         Clinical Endoscopy retracts sedation paper, creates neologism in process

·         Does anesthesiology have a problem? Final version of report suggests Fujii will take retraction record, with 172

·         One year later, transcendental meditation study yanked minutes before publication still under review

·         ORI finds Parkinson’s-pesticides researcher guilty of faking data; two papers to be retracted

·         Report: Fujii faked data in at least 172 papers

·         Authors retract PLoS Medicine foreign health aid paper that had criticized earlier Lancet study

·         Withdraw that emotion: Psych journal retracts two Stapel papers on mood

·         Reverse tissue engineering: data reuse causes retractions of three papers from German organ researchers

·         Controversial paper on life-extending buckyballs corrected after blog readers note problems

·         Wham, bam, no thank you, ram: Publisher error leads to retraction of already-withdrawn sheep sperm paper

·         So what should happen to scientific papers that are proven wrong?

·         Should Linus Pauling’s erroneous 1953 model of DNA be retracted?

·         Is post-hoc statistical analysis the new fraud detection tool? A new review looks at fraudster Reuben’s work

·         Author whose duplications forced Cell correction retracts paper on Down syndrome

·         Following investigation, Erasmus social psychology professor retracts two studies, resigns

·         Three more retractions for weight loss surgeon Edward Shang for making up data

·         Misconduct burns authors of wax paper, leads to sharply worded retraction notice

·         Updated: Ski resort paper hits a (media) mogul and gets retracted

·         JPET corrects Janssen antidepressant paper after neuroscience blogger notes errors

·         JPET peeves: Paper withdrawn after drug company won’t disclose chemical structure

·         Serial plagiarizers banned from dermatology journal forever

·         Three more Fujii papers fall for lack of IRB approval

·         Resveratrol researcher Das in video: Yes, I manipulated images, but only because the journals asked me to

·         Catching up: Charges against CFS-XMRV researcher Mikovits dropped, ‘gyres’ author Andrulis publishes another paper

·         PLoS ONE expresses concern over flu vaccine paper

·         Tell-tale hearts: Cardiology journals retract redundant articles

·         Shikeagi Kato, who resigned post in March, retracts Nature paper

·         Circulation retracts four papers by author who misled on IRB approval

·         Chemist Craig Hill, author of JACS and Science papers, explains the retractions

·         Biologists delete paper from literature after realizing they’d deleted too many genes

·         Paper claiming hottest 60-year-span in 1,000 years put on hold after being published online

·         JACS, Science retracting three papers from leading Emory chemist Craig Hill

·         Korean stem cell investigation expands to another researcher, and more papers

·         FASEB J retracts 15-year-old study after author comes forward, but universities decline to investigate

·         Is a retraction in the works for America’s Got Talent star?

·         Former Millennium Villages Project staffer responds to critical Nature editorial

·         Two new corrections for Utah group that retracted two Cell Metabolism papers for missing notebooks

·         Premature delivery? Paper on rapid assay for ruptured placenta pulled for “mishandling” of tests

·         Computational chem journal retracts article for, um, computation error

·         Lead author of major breast cancer study announced at ASCO co-authored two corrected papers with Anil Potti

·         Retraction count for resveratrol researcher Dipak Das rises to 12

·         Psychologists take a gamble on using data about risky behavior, and are forced to retract a paper

·         ‘Molecular characterization’ errors lead to retraction from medicinal chemistry journal

·         Millennium Villages Project forced to correct Lancet paper on foreign aid as leader leaves team

·         Why retraction notices matter: Group’s repeated misuse of figures gets different play from five journals

·         An Immunity retraction for Luk van Parijs, three years after the ORI found evidence of fabrication in the paper

·         Not for the faint of heart: Cardiologists retract syncope paper after realizing data columns weren’t aligned right

·         Three more retractions for Vietnamese physicists who plagiarized a plagiarized paper

·         Mighty molten powder researchers publish paper in journal twice, months apart

·         Potential retraction record holder Fujii to Anaesthesia: I’m no stats expert, but my studies have “integrity”

·         Authors retract two Cell Metabolism papers after “data were inappropriately removed from the laboratory”

·         Leading cancer vaccines researcher retracts paper for figure “discrepancies” flagged by watchdog blog

·         Authors retract 2010 Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery paper because of duplication

·         Whistleblower forces retractions of four stem cell papers amid questions about more than a dozen studies

·         JACS makes it official, retracting Breslow “space dinosaurs” paper for “similarity to his previously published reviews”

·         Astrophysics retraction trail includes paper that plagiarized another already retracted for…plagiarism

·         Is misconduct more likely in drug trials than in other biomedical research?

·         Journal retracts protein paper from scientist who misused deceased mentor’s data

·         Fujii retractions mount

·         Brit psych journal retracts Stapel paper on the paradox of failure

·         Skin in the game: Derm journal retracts identical cancer case study submitted by two groups at the same facility

·         Will a new literature format “radically alter” how scientists write, review, and read papers?

·         Would you pay $63 for a retraction notice?

·         Retraction seven for Shouwei Han, this one in the American Journal of Physiology

·         Weight loss surgeon who made up data loses job at University Hospital Leipzig

·         Fleetwood Mac, anyone? Landslides paper crumbles under weight of “significant originality issue”

·         Puzzling: Maybe weight loss surgery paper by author who acknowledged fraud is being retracted after all

·         Hair today, gone tomorrow: Hair loss company retracts public statements

·         He’s my editor, he’s my author, he’s my editor: A retraction reveals a tangled web

·         Obesity Surgery won’t retract papers by weight loss surgeon who published fake data elsewhere

·         Correcting The Anatomical Record: Article pulled after former student lifted lab findings

·         Vacuum force researcher retracts paper that failed to name collaborators

·         Author retracts weight loss surgery paper after admitting most, if not all, of the subjects were made up

·         A correction for Luk van Parijs and colleagues for a “clerical error”

·         Pair of graphene papers retracted

·         Assay come, assay go: Corporate takeover leads to retraction of device analysis

·         JACS temporarily pulls “space dinosaurs” paper for alleged duplication

·         Journal retracts two Stapel papers, on salesmen and on women who change their names when they marry

·         Authors’ public dispute over retraction notice in Cytokine ends in a draw, bruises journal

·         Patient database errors lead to three rheumatology retractions

·         Surgery journal retracts cancer paper for duplication after “naive” response from authors

·         The HeLa problem: What a retraction says about whether cancer researchers can trust their cell lines

·         Whistling the same Tunisia: Serial plagiarists plague the oncology literature

·         Neurochemistry journal retracts paper after earlier mega-correction for an author who’s no stranger to errata

·         Poldermans update: Magazine cites lack of informed consent, bogus patient surveys, invented data and more

·         Math paper retracted because it “contains no scientific content”

·         ORI sanctions Oregon eye stem cell researcher for faking data in grant applications

·         Controversial homosexuality “reparative therapy” paper staying put despite author’s regrets

·         Salzburg University fires crystallographer Robert Schwarzenbacher for faking data in Journal of Immunology paper

·         Group investigated by University of Louisville corrects lung cancer paper after retracting six others

·         193 papers could be retracted: Journal consortium issues ultimatum in Fujii case

·         It’s all bad, it’s all good: JCI retracts for made-up data but authors stand behind work

·         Endocrinologist Shigeaki Kato resigns amidst University of Tokyo misconduct investigation

·         Crise de foie: Liver journals retract duplicate biomarker pubs

·         Back in the saddle: After more than 30 retractions, Naoki Mori publishing again

·         JCO expresses concern over images from Spanish group that had aroused earlier concern

·         Third retraction arrives for Alirio Melendez, this one in the Journal of Cellular Physiology

·         It “takes a long time to have these experiments redone,” so group retracts wheat paper after reader challenges

·         Can we trust Western blots?

·         Salami slicing and heart attacks don’t mix: Duplication, lack of transparency lead to retraction

·         A “retraction in part” for Anil Potti and colleagues, in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics

·         Protein structure retracted after investigation into “highly improbable features,” journal calls it fraud

·         Nature Precedings to stop accepting submissions next week after finding model “unsustainable”

·         Rheumatology explains what went wrong with meta-analysis

·         Three more retractions for resveratrol researcher Dipak Das, in free radical journals

·         Cell paper, once plagiarized, pulled for dodgy figures

·         Japanese universities find pair of researchers guilty of misconduct in 19 papers

·         Rheumatology retracts lupus-cancer meta-analysis over multiple errors

·         Rabbits needn’t worry about cell phones’ effects on their sperm count, say three retractions

·         PNAS author explains why she didn’t sign retraction notice for potential anti-cancer drug study

·         Paper linking vitamin C and reduced asthma retracted after authors find “severe” problems with data

·         Redox, redux: Journal pulls paper over data problems

·         Another non-unanimous PNAS retraction, for potential anti-cancer drug, after company’s method proves unreliable

·         Authors retract paper claiming antidepressants prevent suicide

·         Watch and learn, science journals: “This American Life” retracts Mike Daisey segment on Apple in China

·         A non-unanimous retraction in PNAS after authors are “unable to reproduce the data”

·         Hold the broccoli, garlic, and wine: Three Dipak Das retractions appear in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

·         Journal pulls four breast cancer papers for duplication

·         Society error leads to published — then retracted — Alzheimer’s abstract from top group

·         Spanish veterinary researcher under suspicion of creating “ghost” author, fabricating data

·         Five papers by prominent cardiologist Hiroaki Matsubara subject to Expression of Concern

·         How does it feel to have your scientific paper plagiarized? And what can you do about it?

·         Missouri medical board reprimands Anil Potti

·         Update on Fujii: Anesthesia journal finds overwhelming statistical evidence of data fabrication

·         Plagiarism leads to seven retractions (and counting) in the conservation literature

·         Journal yanks anemia paper over duplicate data

·         Major fraud probe of Japanese anesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii may challenge retraction record

·         Neuro journal retracts case study with redundant data

·         Another withdrawal by MD Anderson’s Aggarwal, again for unclear reasons

·         Author who took responsibility for errors in retracted PNAS paper cites it…in error

·         On second thought: Transplant paper retracted for researcher error

·         Two more retractions in respiratory journal as University of Louisville completes investigation

·         Updated: Slate retracts story on Glenn McGee and Celltex following lawsuit threats, as McGee resigns from company

·         Gastro journal retracts duplicate review, but what really happened?

·         Journal retracts paper “whose topic bears no relationship whatsoever” to publication’s subject matter

·         JAMA awaiting final OHRP decision on Harvard-led paper whose authors didn’t fully disclose risks to elderly

·         The first-ever English language retraction (1756)?

·         ORI: Former SUNY Upstate neuroscience dept. chair Miller manipulated data in four grant applications

·         Update: Potti’s South Carolina medical license now listed as active

·         Climate science critic Wegman reprimanded by one university committee while another finds no misconduct

·         Inquiry at Maimonides triggers two retractions in Chest, and retraining for the researchers

·         How to avoid retractions for plagiarism: Advice from a radiology journal editor (and arXiv)

·         Updated: Anil Potti out at Coastal Cancer Center; practice blames Duke for glowing recommendations

·         Dental X-rays linked to Alzheimer’s disease? Abstract saying so temporarily withdrawn

·         Tenth Potti retraction appears, in Clinical Cancer Research

·         “Failure probability” turns out to be quite high as engineers double-submit paper, then see it retracted

·         Flawed model leads to retraction of polymer paper

·         We’re mostly wrong, but trust us: Our column on mega-corrections for Lab Times

·         Oops! Tissue Antigens retracts paper after accidentally publishing it twice

·         Three AHA journals retract lipid papers over “negligent” record-keeping, image issues and more

·         Amid lawsuits, toxicology journal corrects four asbestos papers for failure to cite author links to Georgia-Pacific

·         The Anil Potti retraction record so far

·         Not so fast! Journal retracts paper from Boldt group over author hijinks, more

·         Two mega-corrections for Anil Potti in the Journal of Clinical Oncology

·         MD Anderson researcher Aggarwal loses paper in Cancer Letters

·         Duplication forces retraction of paper by group whose work is used to justify prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing

·         Coming clean: A major figure in cardiology publishes a lengthy conflict of interest correction in JAMA

·         Anesthesia journal editor says “if you blow us off, it will be retracted,” and sticks to his word

·         Anil Potti and colleagues retract ninth paper, this one in JCO

·         Editor who published Andrulis paper tries to explain how it happened

·         Plagiarism burns authors of fire safety paper

·         Cell runs a lengthy correction, rather than retraction, for image problems

·         Rabies paper retracted for plagiarism, and more from the Journal of Clinical Pathology

·         No small matter: ACS Nano journal growing alarmed by self-plagiarism

·         MD Anderson investigating researcher Bharat Aggarwal over images

·         Second retraction for former SUNY Upstate department chair found guilty of misconduct

·         Tsuji explains why JBC paper was retracted: Western blot problems

·         An arXiv for all of science? F1000 launches new immediate publication journal

·         University of Perugia researcher faces trial for embezzlement, fraud following 13 retractions and Expressions of Concern

·         Case Western explains why it withdrew press release about Andrulis origin of life paper

·         Errors force retraction of Blood paper on genetics of Hodgkin’s lymphoma

·         PNAS retraction marks second for crystallography group

·         Resveratrol researcher Dipak Das: My lab’s work was “99% correct”

·         Should Iran have nuclear power? Paper addressing question retracted for authorship issues

·         Journal of Neurochemistry retracts paper after SUNY Upstate medical school finds evidence of fraud

·         Mysterious retraction in the Journal of Biological Chemistry for Takashi Tsuji’s group

·         Seeing double: Current Eye Research retracts three papers for duplication

·         Orthopedics plagiarist may have lied about affiliation

·         Sebastiani and Perls longevity genes work finds a new home in PLoS ONE following Science retraction

·         Chimp ‘culture’ paper retracted after authors spot errors, now has home at another journal

·         ORI roundup: Former SUNY grad student, two Kansas U researchers hit with sanctions

·         Your experiment didn’t work out? The Journal of Errology wants to hear from you

·         Another paper rejected, mistakenly published, then retracted, this one in nanotechnology journal

·         So how peripheral was Dipak Das’ resveratrol work, really?

·         Resveratrol fraud case update: Dipak Das loses editor’s chair, lawyer issues statement refuting all charges

·         A mega-correction, but no retraction, in the Journal of Cell Sciences

·         UConn resveratrol researcher Dipak Das fingered in sweeping misconduct case