Category Archive: Retractions

Journal Retracts Study Claiming GMO Dangers Amid Allegations of Manipulated Data

There are hundreds of published studies showing the safety of genetically modified organisms. Major health and regulatory agencies around the globe (including the World Health Organization, European Food Safety Authority, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, etc.) confirm there is no risk to human health from GMOS. Yet, anti-GMO activists continue to point to a handful of studies suggesting health problems from GMOs. Unfortunately for these activists, many of these studies have been widely criticized or retracted due to allegations of data manipulation or other procedural errors. Most recently, the blog Retraction Watch reported the retraction of a paper by Federico Infascelli,...

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Whoops! The Most Memorable Scientific Retractions of 2014

In 2014, there were hundreds of stories about scientific fraud—including the publication of fake papers (like one submitted by Simpsons characters), manipulated images, and questionable peer review. With so many stories to choose from, it’s hard to choose the worst of the worst. The co-founders of Retraction Watch put together their list of the Top 10 most memorable retractions of 2014. Check out the article here: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41777/title/The-Top-10-Retractions-of-2014/

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How hard it is to spot scientific fraud?

A University of Utah investigation recently uncovered that a graduate student in its chemical engineering department faked photos for a published research paper. The photos were the basis for his paper on microscopic structures called nanorods, which was published by the journal Nano Letters before being retracted. This story highlights one of the easiest and most common ways for scientists to fake results: image manipulation. The same tactic was used by Japanese researchers to fake data in what had been considered a “groundbreaking” study of stem cells. Earlier this year, Science was forced to retract two much-sited paper from a University...

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The Peer Review Process for Scientific Publications: Trouble in Paradise?

In February 2014, Nature Magazine published a report stating that between 2008 and 2013 more than 120 peered reviewed journal articles were retracted after scientists discovered that they were actually computer generated articles. Amazingly, this was not the first instance—Nature reported in 2005 that a major computer conference was fooled into accepting a paper that was generated by computer. These articles should have been through the peer review process, but what happened? Here’s how the process is supposed to work: When a researcher has finished with a series of experiments and feels he has enough data to report to the general scientific...

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