"Compromised science" news/opines (includes retractions, declining academic standards, pred-J, etc)

Will AI jeopardize science photography? There’s still time to create an ethical code of conduct
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00532-2

Generative artificial-intelligence illustrations can be helpful, but fall short as scientific records...

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Increasing transparency of decision making in research practice: adding value or just more red tape?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-025-01205-0

Efforts in fostering responsible research practices should not only target researchers and research organizations offering relevant education and stimulate a suitable research culture, but should simultaneously target funding organizations, and scientific publishers...

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‘Spoonful of plastics in your brain’ paper has duplicated images
https://www.thetransmitter.org/publ...cs-in-your-brain-paper-has-duplicated-images/

INTRO: A highly publicized new paper that reported high levels of microplastics in human brain tissue contains duplicated images, according to the study’s principal investigator. The duplicates likely do not affect the main findings of the work, two microplastics researchers who were not involved in the study told The Transmitter, but the amount of microplastics may have been overestimated because of other methodological issues... (MORE - details)
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Even faced with the same data, ecologists sometimes come to opposite conclusions
https://www.science.org/content/art...cologists-sometimes-come-opposite-conclusions

INTRO: Give a group of scientists the same data and the same research question, and they should come up with similar answers—in theory. But they don’t, according to a paper published this month in BMC Biology, which finds that 246 ecologists analyzing the same data sets reached widely varying conclusions, with some finding effects in totally opposite directions. The paper is the latest in a line of “many analyst” projects that examine how results can vary because of scientists’ decisions during data analysis—and the first to study the effects in ecology... (MORE - missing details)

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The fragile state of peer review
https://ukrant.nl/magazine/the-fragile-state-of-peer-review-can-open-science-fix-the-system/?lang=en]

EXCERPTS: Peer review is supposed to prevent poor quality research from being published, but it’s failing at doing this, Hoekstra points out. There are many cases where a paper that came through the peer review system turned out to have serious flaws. ‘Some studies tried to replicate published work, but were unable to do so.’

[...] The problem, Hoekstra believes, is that peer reviewing doesn’t protect science as a whole; it just protects one particular journal at a time. ‘Because when an author is rejected by one journal, they just go to the next one, and the next one.’ As many as it takes to get their work published... (MORE - details)

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IEEE has a pseudoscience problem
https://deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/02/ieee-has-pseudoscience-problem.html

INTRO: The IEEE, full name Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is one of the main scientific publishers in domains related to its name. Many IEEE venues, such as ICSE in software engineering and IROS in robotics, are “top” venues that publish important research. While these are conferences and not journals, computer science and related fields are unusual in that conferences are typically the more prestigious option.

But as I’ve covered before in the case of another big computer science publisher, world-class research can coexist with world-class nonsense. Many not-so-top IEEE venues publish “AI gobbledegook sandwiches”, pointless papers that apply standard machine learning or artificial intelligence to basic data sets resulting in vague predictions supposedly improving on ill-defined baselines.

Unfortunately, bad science published by IEEE isn’t limited to boring applications of boring algorithms to boring data. In this blog post, I’ll present IEEE-published pseudoscience of various kinds, show how this correlates with other problems, and discuss why publishers don’t do enough about it... (MORE - details)
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Will they come for PubMed next?
https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinio...0225&utm_term=NL_Gen_Int_SecondOpinion_Active

PubMed is the backbone of biomedical research in the U.S. That's not an exaggeration. It's housed under the NIH and is essentially our national library for public health and medical research information. [...] The Trump administration has signaled its hostility to the NIH and research in general, so we should expect that PubMed may be in trouble. There are several ways the administration could interfere with PubMed...

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The truth about banning “dangerous gain-of-function” research
https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/truth-gain-of-function-research/

KEY POINTS: Since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, a dangerous and unsupported conspiracy theory has gotten popular: that the virus didn’t infect humans due to natural spillover, but was created in a lab by dangerous, unethical virology research. Although this conspiracy theory has no evidence supporting it, it’s very politically popular, and a new bill introduced into the US Senate is taking aim at eliminating what they’re calling “dangerous gain-of-function” research. But there is no dangerous research being performed, and the bill would impose restrictions that would effectively end virology research in the United States: for no meritorious reason. Here’s the truth you won’t be told elsewhere.
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Is science rigged for the rich?
https://reason.com/video/2025/03/06/is-science-rigged-for-the-rich/

EXCERPTS: A recent paper published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, titled " Access to Opportunity in the Sciences: Evidence From the Nobel Laureates," found that 67 percent of science Nobel Prize winners have "fathers from above the 90th income percentile in their birth country."

The authors [...] claim that their paper reveals extreme inequality in the science world and suggests that undiscovered geniuses from poor backgrounds never had the chance to show what they could do for humanity.

The study received considerable press attention, including a piece in The Guardian claiming that it showed "a lot of talent wasted…and breakthroughs lost."

This study contains several statistical and conceptual errors, making its findings meaningless. It provides no evidence that unequal opportunity in science limits human progress... (MORE - details)
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Don’t tread on me: Snake paper retracted for ‘soft-stepping’ technique
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03/07/snakes-soft-stepping-retraction-butantan-institute/

Agitating snakes isn’t something most of us would do on purpose, but for a group of researchers, it was central to their research. [...] Alves-Nunes said the researchers “did not even consider that this modification required an additional approval request, as this method was essentially a combination of the two already [ethically] approved methods.”

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His manuscript was rejected. Then he saw it published by other authors
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03/06/peer-reviewer-publishes-mistake-manuscript-rejected/

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. “I was shocked and deeply concerned,” Kashif told Retraction Watch. “My unpublished work was replicated without attribution, undermining months of effort...”

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Seven years after ‘noncompliance’ finding, whistleblowers push for retractions
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...-finding-whistleblowers-push-for-retractions/

Seven years after investigations uncovered “serious noncompliance” in the collection of biological samples at a California VA hospital, the original whistleblowers say several papers related to the work use these problematic samples and should be retracted. But the principal investigator of the work says there’s no reason to question the findings...

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Was nonsense ‘vegetative electron microscopy’ phrase a Farsi typo?
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03/04/vegetative-electron-microscopy-phrase-farsi-typo/

A gibberish phrase that caught the attention of science sleuths after it slipped into several journals might trace its origin to a typo in Farsi rather than questionable use of AI, as we reported earlier this month. [...] the phrase could have originated through faulty digital processing of a two-column article from 1959 [...] Most of the articles containing the strange wording included authors from Iran...

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ICYMI: Dean under investigation for plagiarism following Retraction Watch story: report
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...ean-investigation-plagiarism-dnevnik-reports/

A university dean is being investigated for plagiarism following our coverage of accusations against him, a Bulgarian newspaper reported last month....

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Five studies from “Bust Size and Hitchhiking” author retracted
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03/03/nicolas-gueguen-five-studies-bust-size-hitchhiking-retracted/

A journal has retracted five papers about the appearance, sexual behavior and attractiveness of women. [...] Sleuths have been flagging Guéguen’s work for years for seemingly impossible results...
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‘Why is it that nobody can reproduce anybody else's findings?’
https://cen.acs.org/policy/publishing/nobody-reproduce-anybody-elses-findings/103/web/2025/02

INTRO: Biomedical scientists around the world publish around 1 million new papers a year. But a staggering number of these cannot be replicated. Drastic action is needed now to clean up this mess, argues pharmacologist Csaba Szabo in Unreliable, his upcoming book on irreproducibility in the scientific literature.

The things that we’ve tried are not working,” says Szabo, a professor at the University of Fribourg. “I’m trying to suggest something different.”

Unreliable ... is a disturbing but compelling exploration of the causes of irreproducibility—from hypercompetition and honest errors, to statistical shenanigans and outright fraud.

In the book, Szabo argues that there is no quick fix and that incremental efforts such as educational workshops and checklists have made little difference. He says the whole system has to be overhauled with new scientific training programs, different ways of allocating funding, novel publication systems, and more criminal charges for fraudsters.

“We need to figure out how to reduce the waste and make science more effective,” Szabo says. This interview was edited for clarity and length... (MORE - the interview)

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China’s supreme court calls for crack down on paper mills
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00612-3

INTRO: China’s highest court has called for a crack down on the activities of paper mills, businesses that churn out fraudulent or poor-quality manuscripts and sell authorships. Some researchers are cautiously optimistic that the court’s guidance will help curb the use of these services, while others think the impact will be minimal. “This is the first time the supreme court has issued guidance on paper mills and on scientific fraud,” says Wang Fei, who studies research-integrity policy at Dalian University of Technology in China... (MORE - details)

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The Fraudulent Laboratory
https://lawliberty.org/the-fraudulent-laboratory/

INTRO: When I was young and naïve, the thought never occurred to me that what appeared in medical journals might be fraudulent. [...] Papers in medical journals were often followed in the correspondence columns by lively debate over the interpretation of findings, which were seldom indisputable, especially when they involved complex statistics. Statisticians, after all, are like economists: they seldom agree about anything.

I was too optimistic. Scientific dishonesty poses a real threat to the credibility of scientific research. It is unfortunately far from easy to solve this problem without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Most doctors, being busy, read scientific papers only superficially. They read—or skim—the summary and conclusions, on the assumption that the editors have done their job properly and not permitted anything too egregious to escape them. Readers retain the conclusions in their minds and sometimes even alter their practice accordingly... (MORE - details)
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Should Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment be retracted?
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...rdos-stanford-prison-experiment-be-retracted/

EXCERPT: At some point, when the credibility of a classic study has received so much critique, official retraction, while desirable, becomes redundant. What Le Texier added to the record is not only the dubious value of Zimbardo’s findings but his virtually unacknowledged appropriation of the ideas of his students and his exploitation of mass media to promote his ideas in advance of peer review. If we were seriously talking about retracting the SPE, what exactly would be retracted? (MORE - details)
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Food scientist impersonated as an editor and reviewer in Frontiers articles
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...an-editor-and-reviewer-in-frontiers-articles/

Frontiers has issued a retraction and multiple corrections for papers in several of its journals after the publisher discovered a reviewer had been impersonated...

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Editorial board resigns after journal cancels special issue on Palestine
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...-education-board-resignation-palestine-issue/

The editorial board of an architecture journal has resigned after its parent association cancelled an upcoming theme issue titled “Palestine.” [...] “In the face of the ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza, this issue of the Journal of Architectural Education calls for urgent reflections on this historical moment’s implications for design, research, and education in architecture,” the call for papers read.

On February 28, the nonprofit Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, which owns the journal, released a statement saying it was halting the issue for increased risks due to “new actions by the U.S. federal administration...”

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Osaka misconduct investigation leads to four retractions, with more likely
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...n-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....
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The PhD landscape in Bangladesh: A reality check
https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/phd-landscape-bangladesh-reality-check-1090906

Widespread plagiarism, a thriving PhD black market, and a growing trend of professionals pursuing PhDs for career advancement rather than genuine research contributions have eroded the value of the degree in Bangladesh...

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Research misconduct in Indian universities: Gaming the system
https://thewire.in/education/research-misconduct-in-indian-universities-gaming-the-system

In theory, it is accepted that a purely-number driven university ranking exercise is self-defeating. In practice, university officials insist on research publication numbers, and are often indifferent to their manipulation. Students bear the brunt of such research...

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Foreign researchers in China face tightening restrictions
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00630-1

INTRO: Donald Trump’s second term as US president has brought fresh fears that the administration could resurrect the China Initiative, which launched legal cases against scientists from the country in a bid to counter scientific espionage. In China, too, foreign researchers are navigating an increasingly authoritarian, security-focused environment. They have not faced a targeted campaign such as the China Initiative, and many still feel welcomed in the country. But tough regulations following the COVID-19 pandemic, new data laws and other restrictions pose challenges... (MORE - details)

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Painting a picture of research fraud
https://www.aushsi.org.au/painting-a-picture-of-research-fraud/

EXCERPT: There’s another larger market in fraud that mostly stays out of the limelight. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of fake papers are being churned out and published in more lowly journals.

The market for this bilge is driven by researchers wanting to win promotions, qualifications, and visas. These papers don’t get the same scrutiny as the big-fakes and mostly do less damage as they may only get a handful of readers.

However, some fakes have been unwittingly used in clinical guidelines, creating real harms for patients who were treated based on fabricated evidence. The growing market in fraud risks severe harm to the reputation of science at a time when it is under attack... (MORE - details)

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The retraction gender gap: Are mixed teams more vulnerable?
https://direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...he-Retraction-Gender-Gap-Are-Mixed-Teams-More

ABSTRACT: This study investigates the impact of gender diversity on the retraction of scientific publications. Analyzing a random sample of one million publications, covering 2,645,304 authors, alongside retraction data from Retraction Watch (39,709 publications), we identify key factors influencing publication retractions.

Our findings indicate that mixed-gender teams are more likely to face retractions than all-male or all-female teams, while individual authors are less prone to retractions. Larger research teams have a lower risk of retraction, whereas medium-sized teams (3–10 authors) experience increased risk.

A close look at the reasons associated with retractions reveals some notable differences: Male-led publications are often retracted for serious ethical violations, such as data falsification and plagiarism, while female-led publications primarily face procedural errors and updates in rapidly evolving fields.

Promoting women to positions of responsibility in mixed collaborations may advance not only gender equity but also the accuracy of the scientific record. (MORE - details)
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The Rise and Fall of Scientific Journals and a Way Forward (paper)
https://publichealth.realclearjourn...all-of-scientific-journals-and-a-way-forward/

EXCERPTS: In the mid-20th century, academic publishing took a turn for the worse. Starting with Robert Maxwell and his Pergamon Press, commercial publishers understood that the monopoly situation in scientific publishing could be very profitable. [...] In the 20th century, journals initiated a system of anonymous unpublished peer reviews. [...] By relying on journal prestige instead of article quality, they have outsourced parts of their evaluation to unknown people without seeing the actual reviews. Such a system is ripe for mistakes and misuse.

[...] After reviewing the history and current problems with journals, a new academic publishing model is proposed. It embraces open access and open rigorous peer review, it rewards reviewers for their important work with honoraria and public acknowledgement and it allows scientists to publish their research in a timely and efficient manner without wasting valuable scientist time and resources. (MORE - details)

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Fluoride study results “ludicrous” says expert
https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/fluoride-study-ludicrous-says-expert/

EXCERPTS: A small but decade-long study on the effects of fluoride in drinking water in Bangladesh, suggesting a link between the chemical and lower cognitive abilities in kids, has raised the eyebrows of other experts. [...] In the paper, just published in the open-source journal, Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers say fluoride exposure as a foetus or child may reduce IQ in Bangladeshi children. [...] These results are at odds with other, much larger and longer, Swedish studies and other research globally... (MORE - details)

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Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-grants-mrna-vaccines-trump-administration-hhs-rfk/

INTRO: National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA vaccine technology from their grant applications, two researchers said, in a move that signaled the agency might abandon a promising field of medical research. The mRNA technology is under study at the NIH for prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, including flu and AIDS, and also cancer. It was deployed in the development of covid-19 vaccines credited with saving 3 million lives in the U.S. alone — an accomplishment President Donald Trump bragged about in his first term... (MORE - details)
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The junk science that gets parents convicted of murder
https://www.thefp.com/p/the-junk-science-that-gets-parents

EXCERPTS: Although Woodward’s case put a spotlight on the questionable science behind shaken baby syndrome, today, mothers, fathers, and caregivers are still being prosecuted for it. It is estimated that over the decades thousands have been accused, and many convicted, of harming or killing a child by shaking. [...] “Over the last two decades, extensive scientific research has discredited SBS,” wrote Scheck. But “because misinformation and misconceptions about SBS persist, Mr. Roberson is still at risk of execution for a crime that never occurred.”

[...] ..] When the hypothesis that shaking a baby could cause brain damage entered pediatrics in the 1970s, it was part of a wave of movements in the U.S. seeking to make children safer. Domestic abuse was shedding its long history as a private source of shame and gaining recognition as a legal and social issue that required intervention—and if necessary, criminal prosecution.

[...] As convictions based on shaken baby syndrome rose, so did questions about the reliability of that diagnosis... (MORE - details)
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Scientific misconduct is on the rise. But what exactly is it?
https://theconversation.com/scientific-misconduct-is-on-the-rise-but-what-exactly-is-it-247352

EXCERPTS: German anesthesiologist Joachim Boldt has an unfortunate claim to fame. [...] To date, 220 of his roughly 400 published research papers have been retracted by academic journals. [...] Boldt may be a world leader, but he has plenty of competition. In 2023, more than 10,000 research papers were retracted globally—more than any previous year on record.

Academic journals retract papers when they are concerned that the published data is faked, altered, or not "reproducible" (meaning it would yield the same results if analyzed again). Some errors are honest mistakes. However, the majority of retractions are associated with scientific misconduct. But what exactly is scientific misconduct? And what can be done about it? (MORE - details)

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'Organic' Agriculture: The $52 Billion Hoax?
https://www.acsh.org/news/2025/03/18/organic-agriculture-52-billion-hoax-49337

EXCERPTS: Many consumers are committed to organic products for reasons that are more emotional than logical. [...] A study of foodborne outbreaks in the U.S. found that the number of outbreaks associated with organic foods is greater than those stemming from conventionally grown ones. [...] Such dubious organic imports are an especially weak link. [...] The report concluded that National Organic Program officials have performed so poorly that fraud and corruption are common throughout the supply chain ... Thus, many consumers are paying a large premium to buy imported organic foods that aren't organic at all. [...] But here's the irony of ironies: With respect to food safety, consumers who are being bamboozled into buying conventional food masquerading as organic might actually be better off. Organic foods are notorious for contamination... (MORE - details)
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Cureus paper by dean and medical student retracted for mislabeled ECG
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...medical-student-retracted-for-mislabeled-ecg/

A paper by a medical student and an associate professor in Florida has been retracted for errors with the central finding of the study, an electrocardiogram whose labeling “does not actually represent any of the characteristics” of the tracing...

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Why do nearly 45,000 scholarly papers cite themselves?
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03/19/paper-self-citations-bornmann-haunschild-bibliometrics/

While using bibliometric techniques to measure how disruptive research papers are to their field of study, Robin Haunschild and Lutz Bornmann stumbled across a strange phenomenon. Just under 45,000 academic papers contained citations to themselves, they found...

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Kidney researcher debarred from federal U.S. funding for image manipulation
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03...ge-medicine-ori-debarment-image-manipulation/

A former Baylor College of Medicine researcher has been debarred from federal funding for two years after a review by the Office of Research Integrity found evidence of misconduct...

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A second article describing new pain syndrome under scrutiny
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/03/17/bmc-rheumatology-article-middle-east-pain-syndrome/

A second paper on a contested pain disease is under investigation after sleuths raised questions about the methodology and possible fabrication of data...
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The Retraction Watch Mass Resignations List
https://retractionwatch.com/the-retraction-watch-mass-resignations-list/

INTRO: In 2023 alone, editors of eight journals on topics ranging from mathematics to biogeography all quit at once because of disputes with their publishing companies. Mass resignations of editors from scholarly journals aren’t new – the Open Access Directory has a list of some such actions going back to 1989. But the frequency appears to have picked up in recent years, as well as the attention some mass resignation events draw. The following is a list of journals that have seen editors resign en masse since 2015, for various reasons... (MORE - details)

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AJPH and the threat of political interference in scientific publishing
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308100 (access page)

EXCERPT: These requests do not stem from scientific concerns about methodological rigor or scientific merit but rather reflect external pressures related to 2025 presidential executive orders. In this editorial, I outline why AJPH has consistently declined requests motivated by political and ideological pressure and explain why doing so is necessary to preserve the integrity of the scientific record... (PDF/EPUB)

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An editor invited me to submit a commentary, then he rejected it – and named and blamed me in an editorial
https://retractionwatch.com/2022/07...d-it-and-named-and-blamed-me-in-an-editorial/

EXCERPT: The AJPH boasts that it is “a highly influential publication,” which is why I accepted an invitation ... in 2020 to comment in a journal forum on FDA regulation of e-cigarettes. ... It’s highly unusual for a journal editor to invite commentaries, reject them, then publish an editorial naming and blaming the rejected authors. Yes, he named and blamed us ... Why ... publish an editorial on papers he didn’t publish, especially after inviting them? (MORE - details)

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Stop laundering research from Ukraine’s stolen institutions
https://www.researchprofessionalnew...-research-from-ukraine-s-stolen-institutions/

EXCERPTS: There is no single list of stolen Ukrainian universities and research institutions; the information is unofficial and fragmented. But from collating different sources, we believe that Russia has seized 289 higher education institutions, including universities, academies, institutes, branches, and faculties of universities and colleges. [...] In total, this adds up to thousands of cases where Ukrainian territories are marked as part of the Russian Federation and stolen Ukrainian universities are mentioned as authors’ actual affiliations.

[...] Since 2022, more than 20,000 different sanctions have been imposed on Russia. The academic sphere, however, remains relatively untouched. It seems that publishers and other information providers are practising territorial and political neutrality—either out of a belief that science should remain above politics, or simply through an oversight... (MORE - details)
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Abuse of power at Germany's elite research institution (video)
https://www.dw.com/en/max-planck-institute-abuse-of-power-elite-scientists-germany-v2/video-71904207

EXCERPTS: The Max Planck Society is a figurehead of scientific research in Germany [...] But there is a dark side to its facade. For months, DW's investigative unit, along with German news magazine Der Spiegel, has investigated allegations of misconduct perpetrated by senior scientific staff at Max Planck institutes... (MORE - details, video)

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Tackling science’s ‘nasty photoshop problem’
https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/03/20/tackling-sciences-nasty-photoshop-problem/

EXCERPTS: While the scale of the damage done is not easy to measure, we know that researchers trying to build on Dr. Masliah’s work have gone down blind alleys, unwittingly wasted perhaps millions in research funding [...] This is far from being the only example of images being falsified. [...] So it’s not surprising that concerns about image integrity have gained a lot of attention recently. [...] Today, stricter guidance and requirements around image handling are gradually becoming more common. [...] While there’s been a lot of progress, there’s also still some variance across publishers and journals... (MORE - details)

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Fraud, blackmail, and the weaponization of integrity
https://fosci.substack.com/p/fraud-blackmail-and-the-weaponization

EXCERPTS: When I explain the research ecosystem—how it functions, where it breaks, and how bad actors exploit it—I often meet a mix of curiosity and disbelief. [...] For those who may not know, there is a loosely connected group of individuals [...] who dedicate their time to investigating research misconduct, scientific manipulations, and the like.

[...] This brings us to a disturbing example: an investigator ... receives an email [...] Investigate who I tell you to, or I'll fabricate accusations against you. This isn't about integrity anymore—it's a direct career threat, an act of blackmail [...] Suddenly, the investigator becomes the target.

[...] The providers of these illicit services, often operating internationally, have evolved from targeting [the] vulnerable ... to employing increasingly aggressive tactics, including blackmail, intimidation of academic staff, and now, threats of violence. [...] How do we protect both whistleblowers and legitimate researchers from bad-faith attacks? (MORE - details)
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