Ivan Oransky
- Editor-in-Chief, Spectrum
- Editor-in-Chief, The Transmitter
- Co-Founder, Retraction Watch
New York, Northampton
As seen in:
Retraction Watch,
Spectrum,
The Transmitter,
slideshare.net,
The New York Times,
HuffPost,
Nature,
Reuters,
The Guardian,
The Wall Street Journal,
PBS,
TED,
The Verge
and
Editor in chief, @_thetransmitter; Distinguished Journalist In Residence, @NYU_Journalism; co-founder, @RetractionWatch; past president, @AHCJ.
Articles by Ivan Oransky
Exclusive: Sage to retract multiple articles by dismissed rising star for “compromised” peer-review process
Yannick Griep, a former rising star in management research at Radboud University in the Netherlands, is set to lose an undisclosed number of articles from a journal he once edited, Retraction Watch has learned.
Marcelle Lapicque: A forgotten pioneer of neuroscience
In the early 20th century, Marcelle Lapicque ran her own physiology lab at Sorbonne University and did groundbreaking work decoding how signals travel through the nervous system. Yet her legacy has been largely lost to history. That may be because of her gender—and her race, according to a paper published last year. Read the transcript.
What should the field prioritize over the next 10 years?
On the mark: Neuroscientists are eyeing multiple targets moving forward. Illustration by Respondents pointed to a range of challenges in basic neuroscience—such as understanding naturalistic behaviors, intelligence and embodied cognition—and called for more circuit-level research, more precise brain recordings and more work in alternative models. Just as many pushed for a translational pivot.
Drummond Rennie (1936-2025), in his own words
I first became aware of the work of Drummond Rennie almost by accident: By borrowing his office. It was the summer of 1997, and as a rising fourth-year medical student, I was spending a month at JAMA as the co-editor-in-chief of its then-medical student section, Pulse. Rennie, who was deputy editor of the journal at the time, was mostly traveling, so the staff installed me in his office, overflowing with books and manuscripts.
Neuroscientist Gerry Fischbach, in his own words
Gerry Fischbach was one of the first people I met when I joined the editorial advisory board of Spectrum—now The Transmitter—just over a decade ago. I had heard of Gerry’s pioneering work as a neuroscientist and as a dean or director of some of science’s leading institutions: Columbia University, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and others. So I was a bit intimidated, to be honest, when he joined a meeting of the board. But any anxiety was quickly put to rest.
‘Now is not the time to fade’: Retraction Watch awarded Council of Science Editors’ highest honor
Retraction Watch has been honored with the Council of Science Editors’ highest honor: The 2025 Award for Meritorious Achievement. CSE gives the award each year to an organization or individual who has made “significant contributions” toward the goal of CSE, “namely, the improvement of scientific communication through the pursuit of high standards in all activities connected with editing.” We were honored to be at the CSE Annual Meeting in Minneapolis today to accept the award.
Who funds your basic neuroscience research? Help The Transmitter compile a list of funding sources
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Reporter The Transmitter Share this article: Funding has been at the forefront of many scientists’ minds recently. The Transmitter would like to hear from readers around the world to find out where they get their funding for basic neuroscience research. We will use the results from this anonymous one-question survey to compile a list of funding sources that we plan to share on our site in the future. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.
By Claudia Lopez Lloreda Verified, Carmen Maldonado-Vlaar, Angie Voyles Askham Verified, Ivan Oransky
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The Transmitter
Verified
Weekend reads: ‘Honest overachievers;’ the unpublished Lucy Letby paper; ‘atom-thin salami slicing’
Dear RW readers, can you spare $25? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Introducing the Retraction Watch Sleuth in Residence Program Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 450. There are more than 50,000 retractions in The Retraction Watch Database — which is now part of Crossref. The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker now contains more than 300 titles.
Weekend reads: The top 10 stories of 2024; 31 novels about scientific misconduct; how retractions become weaponized
Dear RW readers, it’s not too late to make an end-of-year donation to support our work. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Journals investigating dozens of papers by leading Canadian urologists Finland Publication Forum will downgrade hundreds of Frontiers and MDPI journals A look back at 2024 at Retraction Watch, and forward to 2025 Evolution journal editors resign en masse to protest Elsevier changes Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 450.
Evolution journal editors resign en masse to protest Elsevier changes
All but one member of the editorial board of the Journal of Human Evolution (JHE), an Elsevier title, have resigned, saying the “sustained actions of Elsevier are fundamentally incompatible with the ethos of the journal and preclude maintaining the quality and integrity fundamental to JHE’s success.” “Elsevier has steadily eroded the infrastructure essential to the success of the journal while simultaneously undermining the core principles and practices that have successfully guided the...
Weekend reads: Shoddy commentaries flood journals; key hydroxychloroquine paper retracted; a researcher confesses
Dear RW readers, can you spare $25? The week at Retraction Watch featured: EcoHealth Alliance retracts and replaces paper on potential origin of COVID-19 in bats Journal won’t retract paper that involved human organ transplants in China Journal that published viral study on black plastic removed from major index Researcher linked to paper mill activity mysteriously reappeared on list of journal’s editorial board Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 450.
Weekend reads: ‘Race science’ under review; researcher blames critiques on anti-LGBTQ discrimination; the politics of the politics of smell
Dear RW readers, can you spare $25? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Former Harvard researcher, now at Moderna, loses paper following postdoc’s report Dean in Bulgaria accused of plagiarism 19 months and counting: Former Hindawi journal still hasn’t marked paper Bribery offers from China rattle journal editors. Are they being scammed?
Weekend reads: A misconduct advent calendar; false affiliation scam ends; RW in Canada’s Parliament
Dear RW readers, can you spare $25? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Crossref suspends company’s membership after Retraction Watch report Wiley medical journal retracts dozens of papers for manipulated peer review, with more to come Science places expressions of concern on two articles as Toronto’s Sinai Health investigates Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 450.
Weekend reads: Cassava’s Alzheimer’s drug fails; new journal hijacking scam; Hong Kong academic jailed
Giving Tuesday is coming up. Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work?
Weekend reads: When Dr. Oz appeared in Retraction Watch in 2014; Didier Raoult in the news again; superconductivity researcher out
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Premature declarations on animal consciousness hinder progress
This past April, more than 280 researchers (that number has since climbed to 480) issued a declaration on animal consciousness, claiming “there is strong scientific support for attributions of conscious experience to other mammals and to birds” and “at least a realistic possibility of conscious experience in all vertebrates … and many invertebrates.” This broad overstatement, in my opinion, could hurt scientific research in several ways.
Weekend reads: RFK Jr’s 2011 retraction; ‘the great AI witch hunt’; scientific misconduct in Switzerland
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: ‘All the red flags’: Scientific Reports retracts paper sleuths called out in open letter Retraction Watch is hiring! Two journalism jobs available eLife won’t get an impact factor, says Clarivate Engineering publisher pulled 57 papers in a day for peer review ‘irregularities’ Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400.
Newfound gene network controls long-range connections between emotional, cognitive brain areas
Long-range connections between the amygdala, which helps process emotions, and cortical regions that power cognition help us manage our behavior and navigate social interactions. Now scientists have identified genes that direct developing neurons in the amygdala and its surrounding areas to forge these vital connections.
Austin Coley
Austin Coley is assistant professor of neurobiology in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. His lab focuses on the neural substrates, neural population activity and synaptic properties involved in depressive-like behaviors. He earned his B.S. in biology at North Carolina Central University and his M.S. in cell physiology at Case Western Reserve University.
Happy 1st Birthday, The Transmitter!
Our baby is 1. A year ago, I stood before a crowd at a Society for Neuroscience social event sponsored by the Simons Foundation to announce the birth of The Transmitter. The pride and joy about our launch has only grown as I’ve watched the incredible staff produce an award-winning publication that has already become vital to the neuroscience community.
Retraction Watch is hiring! Two journalism jobs available
Thanks to generous support from the WoodNext Foundation and ongoing support from individual donors, as well as revenue from journalism partnerships and speaking fees, Retraction Watch is hiring for two roles: managing editor and staff reporter. If you’re interested in accountability science journalism with impact that drives the conversation around scientific integrity and is frequently picked up by local, national and international news outlets, these roles are for you.
Weekend reads: Top Alzheimer’s researcher on leave; president calls for superconductivity researcher to be fired; continued citation of retracted papers
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Embattled rocket scientist loses paper following Retraction Watch report University of Newcastle investigating top melanoma researchers Another Springer Nature journal has retracted over 300 papers since July Complaint from engineering software company prompts two retractions Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400.
Weekend reads: Science journals and the U.S. presidential election; ‘delve’ and spelling errors in the literature; PruittGate revisited
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Meet the founder of a 100,000-strong Facebook group driving change in scientific integrity in Vietnam
Retraction Watch readers may have noticed an uptick of items in the RW Daily and Weekend Reads about scientific integrity issues in Vietnam over the past year. Many of those items had their genesis, and were circulated, on a Facebook group that now has close to 100,000 members — and was recently removed temporarily by Facebook. 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.
Weekend reads: Puberty blockers paper remains ‘unpublished because of politics;’ ‘What Drugmakers Did Not Tell Volunteers in Alzheimer’s Trials;’ ‘Ginger Rogers science’
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Reflecting on research misconduct: What’s next for the watcher community? Young employee’s death puts workplace culture in spotlight at publisher MDPI Cambridge researcher pulls Cell paper five years after Nature, Science retractions eLife latest in string of major journals put on hold from Web of Science Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400.
Weekend reads: Retractions at Columbia; retractions for a rector; the early days of peer review
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Weekend reads: ‘A lab in recovery’; ‘my paper was proved wrong’; a journal apologizes
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Weekend reads: Retractions by Nobel Prize winners; privatizing peer review; fake mouse brains
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Weekend reads: Top NIH neuroscientist out amid suspicion; the issue with special issues; an ingredient derailed experiments
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: 1 in 7 scientific papers is fake, suggests study that author calls ‘wildly nonsystematic’ Publisher adds temporary online notifications to articles “under investigation” Homeopathy for cancer paper extensively corrected after watchdog agency requested retraction Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400.
Weekend reads: Harm reduction for peer review; finding reviewers; fake journals
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Weekend reads: Lawsuits filed and dismissed; ‘the rise of the science sleuths;’ research assessment culture
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Weekend reads: A plethora of misdeeds; big slowdown at several publishers; hydroxychlorine paper retraction draws scrutiny
The week at Retraction Watch featured: Journal to retract two articles more than six months after VA said they had fake images Exclusive: Editor resigns after he says publisher blocked criticism of decision to retract paper on gender dysphoria Faked data prompts retraction of Nature journal study claiming creation of a new form of carbon ‘The PubPeer conundrum:’ One view of how universities can grapple with a ‘waterfall of data integrity concerns’ Swiss medical association accused of forcing...
‘The PubPeer conundrum:’ One view of how universities can grapple with a ‘waterfall of data integrity concerns’
As Retraction Watch readers no doubt know, PubPeer has played a key role in a growing number of cases of misconduct, allowing sleuths to publicly shine light in shadowy corners and prompting action by many universities. (Disclosure: Our Ivan Oransky is a volunteer member of the PubPeer Foundation’s board of directors.) But that has also meant that universities can feel overwhelmed by a deluge of PubPeer comments.
Weekend reads: When retracted work is cited; another retraction for a Nobelist; should scientific fraud be illegal?
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: A journal editor said he’d retract a paper for plagiarism. A year later, it hasn’t happened. Exclusive: Thousands of papers misidentify microscopes, in possible sign of misconduct First-time scientific sleuths prompt nine retractions for neurosurgery group Researcher whose work was plagiarized haunted by impostor emails Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400.
Weekend reads: Why scientist rankings should be ignored; misconduct claims in court; mining company demands retraction
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Weekend reads: MDMA papers retracted; COVID-19 vaccine paper retracted for the second time; who gets cited more?
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: What’s in a picture? Two decades of image manipulation awareness and action Former Maryland dept.
Weekend reads: Publish or perish, the card game; revisiting fraud in anesthesiology; the Hindawi mass retraction timeline
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Weekend reads: Happy birthday, Retraction Watch!; a mysterious conference; extreme publishing; research parasites revisited
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Science and the significant trend towards spin and fairytales Cancer paper retracted 11 years after reported plagiarism Journal retracts paper on chiropractic product after company complains Happy 14th birthday, Retraction Watch – and what a year it was Our list of retracted or withdrawn COVID-19 papers is up past 400.
Happy 14th birthday, Retraction Watch - and what a year it was
We know we say this every year, but the last 12 months have been big ones for Retraction Watch as we celebrate our 14th birthday on August 3. We’ve continued breaking big stories and maintaining The Retraction Watch Database – while also taking big steps toward financial sustainability. In September, we announced that the Database – which as of today contains more than 50,000 retractions – became completely open with its acquisition by Crossref.
Weekend reads: Attending a predatory conference; zombie theories; difficult authors
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Giant rat penis redux: AI-generated diagram, errors lead to retraction Elsevier investigating geology journal after allegations of pal review Exclusive: Prof plagiarized postdoc’s work in now-retracted paper, university found ‘A proper editor would be horrified’: Why did a pediatric journal publish articles on the elderly?
Weekend reads: The world’s most cited cat; ‘Is peer review failing its peer review?’; Oxford prof accused of stealing research
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: Did Flint water crisis set kids back in school?
Weekend reads: ‘The surprising history of abstracts’; is peer review broken?; bee waggle dance data gets the wrong kind of buzz
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Weekend reads: A ‘star botanist’ has a retraction; the ‘bizarro world of law reviews’; AI and fake papers
Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: ‘We authors paid a heavy price’: Journal retracts all 23 articles in special issue Food science journal retracts 10 papers for compromised peer review ‘A threat to the integrity of scientific publishing’: How often are retracted papers marked that way?
‘A threat to the integrity of scientific publishing’: How often are retracted papers marked that way?
How well do databases flag retracted articles? There has been a lot of interest recently in the quality of retraction notices and notifications, including new guidelines from the National Information Standards Organization (NISO; our Ivan Oransky was a member of the committee) and a new study which Ivan and our Alison Abritis joined.
Weekend reads: Huge cash bonuses for publishing in Nature; Alzheimer’s researcher charged with fraud; fines for buying authorship
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Weekend reads: A researcher explains how he publishes every three days; scientific bounty hunters; criminalizing scientific misconduct
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Weekend reads: ‘An epidemic of scientific fakery’; death threats for critics; Cleveland Clinic settles mismanagement allegations for $7.6 million
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Weekend reads: Major Alzheimer’s paper slated for retraction; research dog breeder pleads guilty; biomedical retractions quadruple
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Weekend reads: Another vaccine-autism retraction; ‘Why We Commit Academic Fraud’; on a psilocybin-depression correction
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Indonesian university dean dismissed, barred from teaching, asked to apologize
Kumba Digdowiseiso has been dismissed from his position as dean of the economics and business faculty at the Universitas Nasional (UNAS) in Jakarta, Indonesia, following an investigation into claims he used the names of other academics without consent on papers with which they were not involved.
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