Retraction Highlights of Scientific Papers Dumped - 2014 to 2010
Tracking retractions as a window into the scientific process
April 26, 2014
Faulty model forces rapid retraction of paper on sea ice and climate change
Last month, researchers published a paper whose conclusions suggested that looking at Arctic sea ice in the autumn offers clues to winter temperatures in Europe. The letter appeared — briefly, as this post will demonstrate — in Nature Geoscience. The letter, titled “High predictability of the winter Euro–Atlantic climate from cryospheric variability,” was written by Javier Garcia-Serrano and Claude Frankignoul, of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie. The journal published the letter on March 23 and retracted it on April 14. Here’s the abstract, which can still be found online: Read the rest of this entry »
Former Mount Sinai postdoc faked gene therapy data: ORI
A former postdoc at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York faked data in four published papers, one submitted manuscript, and four NIH grant applications, according to new findings by the Office of Research Integrity.
Plant paper retracted when new species turns out not to be so new
In December, a group of biologists in Thailand published a paper in the Nordic Journal of Botany heralding the discovery of a new species of plant:
Bauhinia saksuwaniae, a new species from northeastern Thailand is described and illustrated. It appears to be an endemic and endangered species. The new species is obviously distinct from all other species of Thai Bauhinia in having large orbicular persistent bracteoles forming a cup-shape and enclosing a young floral bud. But then came this retraction: Read the rest of this entry »
Retractions appear in case of former Kansas water scientist rebuked for misconduct
Back in December, the University of Kansas issued a public censure of a former water researcher who, the school says, engaged in a pattern of plagiarism and other shoddy publishing practices. Marios Sophocleous, who’d held the position of senior scientist at the Kansas Geological Survey:
Springer fake paper tally up to 18
We have some updates on the case of more than 120 fake SCIgen conference proceedings papers that slipped into IEEE and Springer journals.
“With deep regrets we apologize:” Economics paper retracted for plagiarism
An economics paper has been retracted after the journal that published it became aware that it contained plagiarism. Here’s the notice: Read the rest of this entry »
Dec 2013
Ethics training paper retracted because data couldn’t be shared
A group of authors at the University of Oklahoma have retracted a 2013 paper on ethics training after the university found that the data they used couldn’t be shared publicly. Here’s the notice for “Improving Case-Based Ethics Training: How Modeling Behaviors and Forecasting Influence Effectiveness:” Read the rest of this entry »
Wrong cell line leads to retraction of kidney cancer study
A group of authors in China has retracted their December 2013 paper in PLoS ONE after realizing that they’d been studying the wrong cells.
The paper, “Up-Regulation of pVHL along with Down-Regulation of HIF-1α by NDRG2 Expression Attenuates Proliferation and Invasion in Renal Cancer Cells,” came from Lei Gao, of the Fourth Military Medical University, in Xi’an, and colleagues. It purported to find that:
Crystal unclear? “Business decision” forces retraction of silicon paper
A group of researchers in Tokyo has lost their 2013 article in the Journal of Crystal Growth over commercial interests — which don’t appear to be their own.
We’ll explain.
The article, “Interactions between planar defects in bulk 3C-SiC,” came from a team consisting of a researcher at Keio University and scientists at two companies, HOYA Corporation, an optics firm, and SICOXS Corporation, which makes semiconductor wafers.
According to the abstract: Read the rest of this entry »
August 2012
Scientist found to have falsified data in thesis sues to keep her PhD
In August 2012, the authors of “Novel Approach to the Lundurine Alkaloids: Synthesis of the Tetracyclic Core,” a paper in Organic Letters, retracted it:
The authors retract this Organic Letters communication on the basis that the RCM of 24 to give 25 (Scheme 6) is not reproducible; thus, the reduction of 25 to give 26 (Scheme 7) is also not reproducible.
The case was covered in some detail by The Heterocyclist blog, and also by Derek Lowe at In The Pipeline, who called it “an odd retraction.” Lowe recently picked up the story with an update: The first author, Suvi Orr, is suing the University of Texas-Austin, where she earned her PhD and did the work, to stop them from taking away her degree. The Austin American-Statesman reported last month: Read the rest of this entry »
Sept. 2010
We reported on six retractions from Savio Woo’s Mount Sinai lab in 2010, from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and two each from Human Gene Therapy and Molecular Therapy. The PNAS paper, as we noted then: claimed to have discovered a possible cure for phenylketonuria, or PKU, in mice—a finding that was cited more than 30 times and trumpeted in the media.
At the time, Mount Sinai said that two of the lab’s postdocs had been dismissed for misconduct. Now, more than three and a half years later, the ORI reports that a former postdoc in that lab, Li Chen: Read the rest of this entry »
[Note: The credibility of “scientific” studies (and thus the drugs and medical “treatments” based on them) is sinking lower and lower and lower and lower and lower. What ever happened to genuine “professionalism” -- or are there no genuine professions left? Just call yourself an “expert” in something, take a seminar or online course from wherever, and presto! You’re an “expert”. No accountability on any level any more. And the rest of us pay the price. -- DNI]