JCI paper retracted for duplicated panels after authors can’t provide original data

This is an important question! In my opinion data must be published (a matter of transparency and getting the maximum out of data) and archived forever using one of the services available e.g http://www.datadryad.org/ I posted this question on Research Gate as well. Lets see what comes out of this! https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_long_do_researchers_have_to_keep_records_original_data_of_experiments

thank you for this great question. I think today there is no excuse any more to “loose” or delete data.

Retraction Watch

jciSo how long do researchers have to keep records of experiments?

We had that question while reading the retraction notice for a 2007 paper in the Journal of Clinical Investigation:

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“Administrative error on the part of the author” that led to duplicated text prompts retraction

That is one of these cases where you “just” copy and paste yourself. If you have formulated an idea I a way that can not be further improved just put ” ” around it cite it and life with the consequences.

Retraction Watch

techforcchangeWhen you think of an administrative error, what comes to mind? Failure to tell an employee that the reason he didn’t receive a paycheck in July was because he was fired in June? Putting the wrong address on your business cards?

You’d probably have to go pretty far down the list before you reached something like this: “I used text from one of my previously published articles in a second paper.” And yet …

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Oh, the irony: Business ethics journal paper retracted for plagiarism

The perfect place to hide something like that. “kudos” the irony made me giggle a bit….

Retraction Watch

jabeIs this the new business ethics?

In January, we reported on a paper retracted from the Journal of Business Ethics for duplication. That earned the author a five-year publishing ban. This week, we learned of a case of plagiarism in another journal in the field, the Journal of Academic and Business Ethics. Here’s an email editor Russell Baker — no, not that Russell Baker — sent to his contact list on Wednesday:

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“Major error” forces retraction of ghrelin study

N=110 the effect must be extremely small to be not reliably detected…I think they had some major flaw in their behavioral set-up whatever that might have been. But at least they recognized it and did the right thing!

Retraction Watch

Try as we may, we can’t cover every retraction in real time. But on the principle that late is better than later, here’s one from 2012 that we’ve been meaning to get to.

neuroreportThe journal NeuroReport has retracted a 2011 article by a group of researchers who evidently discovered a fatal flaw in one of their figures.

The article, “Ghrelin prevents neuronal apoptosis and cognitive impairments in sepsis-associated encephalopathy,” by a team of intensivists from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, purported to find that ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, appeared to have something of a protective effect against the ravages of sepsis in rat brains. It has been cited three times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge, including once by the retraction.

As the abstract stated:

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Paper by NASA scientists retracted for plagiarizing NASA report

I think the lesson to be learned is DON’T be lazy and invest some time and thought! Its Ok to get inspiration but never copy paste….. Something I tried to teach every one of my students….I think the problem starts during the undergraduate years and must be fixed at this stage.

Retraction Watch

레이아웃 1A team of researchers including NASA scientists have retracted a December 2012 article because it plagiarized…a 2000 NASA report.

Here’s the notice for “A Fosmid Cloning Strategy for Detecting the Widest Possible Spectrum of Microbes from the International Space Station Drinking Water System,” published in Genomics & Informatics:

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National Cockroach Project

cockroachproject_html_m8e4677e

A while ago, before I started blogging, a old friend of mine send me an e-mail with a link to a project he is working on at the moment. It turned out to be really cool.

Using the well established technique of DNA barcoding, thats one type of DNA fingerprinting which is becoming more and more popular, this project aims to study one of the most successful arthropods following humans around the globe: the american cockroach (Periplaneta americana). Yes, these lovely insects don’t have the best reputation but thats just another reason to study them in more detail and see what they are up to!

The really cool thing about this project, besides the insect in focus, is that EVERYONE can participate!!! Yes, even YOU can become a cockroach investigator (a secret dream coming true???), participating in a cutting edge science project! Just find some roaches and send them to NY. You can find the detailed instructions on the NCP homepage page.

The project homepage

And good luck hunting!

Big vs. little science a follow up to the Canadian funding controversy

This is an interesting paper related to the controversy on funding strategy I blogged about last week. If we could predict the next big scientific break through we should focus funding on “excellence”, but if we can not predict it we should fund a wide range of projects. Well this paper adds some data to this discussion and concludes that there is only a weak effect of funding volume on scientific output. Something to think about!

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0065263