Ellie Kincaid
As seen in:
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Nature,
The Wall Street Journal,
WebMD,
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Yahoo,
Men's Journal
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Editor, @RetractionWatch.
Previously: WebMD/Medscape, Forbes, WSJ.
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Articles by Ellie Kincaid
Trans Joy and Indigenous Resistance on the River: A Conversation with Cleo Wölfle Hazard
In this conversation with scholar, activist, artist and scientist Cleo Wölfle Hazard, we consider river justice in the context of ecologies shaped by (impermanent, but ongoing) settler-colonialism. Dr. Wölfle Hazard discusses his 2022 text Underflows: Queer Trans Ecologies and River Justice (University of Washington, 2022) and his work with sovereign Native nations on river restoration projects as we think about how the living body of a river is far more than simply its surface flow.
‘Elite cohort’ of biz school scholars and editors scratch each others’ backs, study finds
Image: Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay Academics who publish frequently in two top business journals often have prior working relationships with the editors who handle their papers, according to a new analysis of editor-author relationships at the two publications over the last 15 years. One journal editor in chief called the results “concerning,” while another thought the analysis was looking for problems on purpose.
COPE’s involvement leads to retraction of paper on homeopathy for lung cancer
A journal that last year corrected a paper claiming to show a homeopathic intervention improved quality of life and survival for people with advanced lung cancer has now retracted the article after the Committee on Publication Ethics got involved in the case.
Glyphosate safety article retracted eight years after Monsanto ghostwriting revealed in court
Credit: Mike Mozart/Flickr (CC BY 2.0) A review article concluding the weed killer Roundup “does not pose a health risk to humans” has been retracted eight years after documents released in a court case revealed employees of Monsanto, the company that developed the herbicide, wrote the article but were not named as coauthors. The safety of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is hotly debated and currently under review at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Exclusive: Reviewer recommended against publishing paper on DNA in COVID vaccines
Rolf Marschalek was on vacation when he saw a new paper had been published in the journal Autoimmunity. Marschalek, a biochemist at Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany, was “very upset,” he told Retraction Watch – because he’d peer-reviewed the manuscript and had recommended against publication. The authors of the paper claimed to find DNA in mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines above regulators’ suggested amounts.
Author changes name, publishes 10 papers in journals that banned him
How to render a publishing ban moot? Change your surname and just keep submitting. That’s what happened in the case of Hashem Babaei, aka Hashem Gharababaei. In 2010, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), a professional society based in the U.K., banned the mechanical engineering researcher from the University of Guilan from submitting his work to its journals.
Sleuth loses paper for duplicate publication after flagging hundreds of untrustworthy articles
A sleuth who has identified several hundred articles describing clinical women’s health research with untrustworthy data, leading to nearly 300 retractions, has now lost one of his own papers for duplicate publication.
Editors of criminology journal resign amid concern about review times
The top editors of a criminology journal have stepped down after the society in charge of the publication assessed concerns about manuscript review times. The board of the American Society of Criminology decided “a change of leadership was required due to some ongoing operational issues with the Criminology journal,” according to an announcement on the society’s website.
Exclusive: Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider
The publisher Taylor & Francis is investigating concerns raised on PubPeer about a paper claiming to find DNA contamination in COVID-19 vaccines beyond regulators’ recommended amounts. The move comes as the U.S. body tasked with making recommendations for vaccine use is scheduled to consider the safety of COVID-19 shots, and two of the study’s authors say their findings will be discussed. The paper at issue was published September 6 in the journal Autoimmunity, a Taylor & Francis title.
Why has this microRNA review paper been cited more than 2,000 times?
Earlier this year, Marc Halushka, a pathologist at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, came across a review titled simply “MicroRNA,” an unusually short title in a big field. Looking deeper into the review, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 2018, Halushka found it had been cited more than 2,000 times. He thought this number “shockingly high,” given the article’s brevity and content.
Exclusive: Cancer researcher sues MD Anderson over misconduct finding
A biochemist who worked as a postdoc at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston has sued the institution to dispute findings of research misconduct. The researcher, Sonia Melo, now at the University of Porto in Portugal, alleges MD Anderson did not follow its own policies while conducting its investigation. Melo lost a prestigious grant in 2016 after one of her papers was retracted for containing duplicated images.
Frontiers to retract 122 articles, links thousands in other publishers’ journals to “unethical” network
The publisher Frontiers has begun retracting a batch of 122 articles across five journals after an investigation found a network of authors and editors engaged in “unethical actions” such as manipulating citations and reviewing papers without disclosing conflicts of interest. The publisher’s research integrity team has identified more than 4,000 articles linked to the network in journals owned by seven other companies, according to a company statement.
After 15 years of controversy, Science retracts ‘arsenic life’ paper
Science has retracted a 2010 paper describing a strain of bacteria that purportedly substituted arsenic for phosphorus, an element present in all known life. Science/AAAS Fifteen years after publishing an explosive but long-criticized paper claiming to describe a microbe that could substitute arsenic for phosphate in its chemical makeup, Science is retracting the article, citing “expanded” criteria for retraction.
Microbiome company CEO who linked COVID vaccine to bacterial decline now has four retractions
A gastroenterologist and microbiome researcher who has promoted hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin as COVID treatments has lost a paper after a sleuth reported differences between the article and the registered protocol of the clinical trial it purported to describe. The retracted article, on detecting SARS-CoV-2 in fecal samples, was published in Gut Pathogens in January 2021. It marks for study coauthor Sabine Hazan.
Remembering Mario Biagioli, who articulated how scholarly metrics lead to fraud
Mario Biagioli, a distinguished professor of law and communication at the University of California, Los Angeles — and a pioneering thinker about how academic reward systems incentivize misconduct — passed away in May after a long illness. He was 69.
Editors won’t retract talc and cancer article J&J says is false in court
A journal will not retract a paper linking use of talc-based baby powder to cancer, despite legal pressure from the pharmaceutical giant that made the product. A lawyer representing a unit of Johnson & Johnson in May asked editors of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine to retract a paper on cases of mesothelioma associated with cosmetic talc, following the court-ordered release of the identities of the people described in the article.
Paper on “wokeness” and mental health retracted for political reasons, authors say
The authors of an article linking scores on a “wokeness” scale and mental health issues are blaming political bias for the retraction of their paper in March following post-publication peer review. The article, “Do Conservatives Really Have an Advantage in Mental Health? An Examination of Measurement Invariance,” appeared in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology last August. It has been cited twice, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science, one being the retraction notice.
‘More of the same’: Journals, trade website refuse to correct critiques of book on Alzheimer’s fraud
Investigative journalist Charles Piller’s latest book, Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s, came out in February. It details the work of Matthew Schrag, a neurologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and other sleuths who uncovered evidence of problems in hundreds of research papers about the neurologic condition. Most reviews and coverage have been positive, Piller said.
Sodom comet paper to be retracted two years after editor’s note acknowledging concerns
Scientific Reports will retract a controversial paper claiming to present evidence an ancient city in the Middle East was destroyed by an exploding celestial body – an event the authors suggested could have inspired the Biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah. The decision comes two years after Scientific Reports, a Springer Nature title, published an editor’s note informing readers the journal was looking into concerns about the data and conclusions in the work.
Medical societies call for BMJ to retract ‘misleading and irresponsible’ guideline
Thirty-four medical professional societies have called for The BMJ to retract a recently published guideline recommending against the use of interventional procedures, such as steroid or anaesthetic injections, to treat chronic back pain. The journal published the guideline in February as part of its Rapid Recommendations program alongside a meta-analysis and systematic review of published research on the procedures, which the guideline panel used to inform its recommendations.
Math journal editors resign to launch open-access title ‘free from pressure or influence’
The managing editors and entire editorial board of Mathematical Logic Quarterly, a Wiley title, have resigned, citing “unilateral decisions” by the publisher “that affected the editorial process.” “We do not believe that Wiley is currently providing an environment that allows the editors to do their editorial work according to the standards of the academic community and free from the negative influence of commercial and profit-oriented interests,” the editors wrote in their resignation letter.
COVID-19 vaccine myocarditis paper raises questions about what earns post-publication peer review
On March 7, a Sage journal published an expression of concern for an article on cases of myocarditis in people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine. “The Editor and the publisher were alerted to potential issues with the research methodology and conclusions and author conflicts of interest” and had undertaken an investigation of the article, the notice stated. According to one of the authors, the investigation involved two new peer reviews of the paper.
Dental researchers fabricated data in two articles, university investigation found
Two former professors and a former graduate student at Osaka Dental University in Japan reused images between three published articles, according to the findings of an institutional investigation. The school released the findings of its investigation in January, with a full report in Japanese. The university has not responded to our request for comment.
Osaka misconduct investigation leads to four retractions, with more likely
A microbiologist formerly of Osaka University has lost four papers, with at least one more retraction pending, after an institutional investigation found fabrication and falsification of data in his published research. The investigation found evidence of manipulated results in seven of the papers examined. The university published the notice of its completed inquiry, along with a full report in Japanese, on February 6.
His manuscript was rejected. Then he saw it published by other authors
A chemist at a university in Pakistan found a surprise when he opened an alert from ResearchGate on a newly published paper on a topic related to his own work. When Muhammad Kashif, a chemist at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, looked at the paper, he noticed “substantial overlap” with an unpublished review article he had submitted to other journals. On closer inspection, he found it was indeed his paper — published by other authors.
Exclusive: Extensive correction to Genentech PNAS article will get an update after RW inquiry
An article by Genentech scientists received an extensive correction in January for multiple instances of image duplications after comments on PubPeer spurred the authors to review the work. But the correction “inadvertently omitted” an additional duplication, and will be updated after Retraction Watch brought the matter to the journal’s attention, a representative for the publication said.
Federal Register hold makes ‘end run’ around court pause on NIH funding freeze
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A large portion of grants awarded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health cannot be funded for the foreseeable future due to a hold on submissions to the Federal Register, where such public notices about upcoming meetings are required by law to be posted, according to an email reviewed by The Transmitter.
By Angie Voyles Askham Verified, Claudia Lopez Lloreda Verified, Brendan Borrell Verified, Ellie Kincaid
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The Transmitter
Verified
Editors resign from sedimentology society journal amid ‘extraordinary and troubling times’
The chief editors of the journal Sedimentology have resigned, along with nearly a third of its associate editors, as the society running the title amended its publishing contract. The International Association of Sedimentologists (IAS), a scientific society based in Belgium, owns the journal and contracts with Wiley to publish it.
‘Bioethics and Brains: A Disciplined and Principled Neuroethics,’ an excerpt
As persons, we each develop and shape our individuality in our own ways, through the social and cultural resources accessible to us. No one tries to be an individual in the abstract; each person’s own sense of individuality, along with one’s sense of self and self-worth, is precious and irreplaceable. Bioethics need not deny these matters, but neuroethics has an extra responsibility toward these capacities.
Editors resign from Springer immunology journal to launch nonprofit title
Several top editors of the Journal of Clinical Immunology, a Springer Nature title, have jumped ship to start a new, nonprofit journal with Rockefeller University Press. Jean-Laurent Casanova, the resigning coeditor-in-chief, told Retraction Watch the move followed pressure from Springer to publish more papers as the journal prepared to become fully open access. Editors from more than 20 other journals have taken similar actions in the past couple of years, as Retraction Watch has logged.
Mass resignations hit psychotherapy journal after publisher replaced editors
The majority of the editorial board of a top psychology journal have resigned en masse after the publisher replaced the journal’s editors without warning. Also departing are the honorary editor and statistical consultants. The journal, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, is a Karger title and “the official journal of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine and the World Federation for Psychotherapy,” according to its website.
‘Foolish mistake’: Guest editor loses three articles published in his own special issues
An Elsevier journal has pulled three articles after the publisher determined an author had been “involved in the peer review and decision making” as managing guest editor of the special issues in which they appeared.
‘Still angry’: Chemist finds his name on a study he didn’t write
Last October, Martin McPhillie, a lecturer in organic chemistry at the UK’s University of Leeds, received an email alert from his institution about a new article bearing his name. The article, “Docking Study of Licensed Non-Viral Drugs to Obtain Ebola Virus Inhibitors,” appeared in the Journal of Biochemical Technology, a title of Istanbul, Turkey-based Deniz Publication. The journal is not indexed in Clarivate’s Web of Science database.
Finland Publication Forum will downgrade hundreds of Frontiers and MDPI journals
A committee of scholars in Finland has decided to downgrade 271 journals from Frontiers and MDPI in their quality rating system, in a move that may discourage researchers from submitting manuscripts to the outlets. Both publishers criticized the move, first reported in Times Higher Education, as lacking transparency and seeming to target fully open-access publishers.
EcoHealth Alliance retracts and replaces paper on potential origin of COVID-19 in bats
The authors of an influential but controversial 2020 paper on the activity of bat coronaviruses in China which proposed the animals as a “likely origin” for the virus that causes COVID-19 have retracted their work and republished a revised version of the analysis. They say their results and conclusions did not change. The paper, “Origin and cross-species transmission of bat coronaviruses in China,” appeared Aug. 25, 2020, in Nature Communications.
Journal that published viral study on black plastic removed from major index
Chemosphere, the Elsevier title which in September published an article on “unexpected exposure to toxic flame retardants in household items” such as black plastic cooking utensils, has been removed from Clarivate’s Web of Science index in its December update.
Exclusive: Researcher who received settlement to leave University of Iowa won’t be starting new job
A cardiology researcher who left the University of Iowa with a six-figure settlement earlier this year won’t be starting the new job he’d lined up at the Providence VA Medical Center, Retraction Watch has learned.
19 months and counting: Former Hindawi journal still hasn’t marked paper
A journal formerly published by Hindawi has yet to publish any sort of notice on a paper sleuths reported for containing duplicated images 1.5 years ago. According to Kevin Patrick, the sleuth who contacted the publisher in mid-2023, the episode “might be a useful case study” of the issues facing Wiley, which acquired Hindawi in 2021 and stopped using the brand name earlier this year after retracting thousands of papers and closing journals overrun by paper mills.
Science places expressions of concern on two articles as Toronto’s Sinai Health investigates
Science has issued expressions of concern for two articles from the lab of Daniel Durocher, a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Toronto. The notices, and two more editor’s notes on Nature articles, follow PubPeer comments on several of Durocher’s papers pointing out potentially duplicated images, as described by ForBetterScience. Durocher has responded to many of the comments promising to look into the issues.
Wiley medical journal retracts dozens of papers for manipulated peer review, with more to come
International Wound Journal, a Wiley title, has retracted 27 papers since June with notices mentioning “manipulated” or “compromised” peer review. “A comprehensive investigation examining manipulated peer review in this journal is in progress,” a Wiley spokesperson told Retraction Watch. The publisher anticipates retracting more articles as the investigation continues.
Company linked to cloned journals of major publishers denies cloning journals of major publishers
After we reported on a new scam to publish papers on webpages remarkably similar to those of Elsevier, Springer, the American Medical Association and other major publishers, the company linked to the clones denied any role in producing the content they contain.
‘Relieved’: BMJ retracts and replaces article on unexpected weight loss as a sign 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. The retracted paper, “Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: diagnostic accuracy study,” appeared Aug. 13, 2020.
Cancer specialist faked data in at least ten papers, VA and 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.
Wiley corrects retraction notices for ‘inaccurate’ description of why articles were 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.
Engineering publisher pulled 57 papers in a day for peer review ‘irregularities’
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers retracted 57 articles on October 1 for inadequate peer review, according to the publisher. The papers appeared in the journal IEEE Access between July and September of 2020. The journal is open-access, with a current article processing charge of $1,995. It appears to have published more than 10,000 articles so far this year.
eLife won’t get an impact factor, says Clarivate
Clarivate, the data company for scholarly publications, has decided to continue indexing some content from eLife in Web of Science, after reevaluating the open-access biology journal’s unusual practice of publishing articles without accepting or rejecting them. The journal will not receive an Impact Factor.
‘All the red flags’: Scientific Reports retracts paper sleuths called out in open letter
Scientific Reports, a Springer Nature title, has retracted an article a group of sleuths described as “a kind of case study of all the red flags for fraud that we look for” in an open letter to the publisher’s head of research integrity. The article, “Hybrid CNN-LSTM model with efficient hyperparameter tuning for prediction of Parkinson’s disease,” appeared in September 2023. It has been cited 11 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science.
Another Springer Nature journal has retracted over 300 papers since 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.
Declaration of Helsinki revision adds nod to research misconduct
The Declaration of Helsinki on ethical principles for research involving human participants now includes a statement on scientific integrity and research misconduct. Adopted in 1964 by the World Medical Association, the Declaration of Helsinki was conceived in response to the atrocities committed during World War 2 in the name of medical research on human subjects.
eLife latest in string of major journals put on hold from Web of 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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