An independent committee formed by CSIR in early June 2019 to investigate into image duplication and/or manipulation in published papers has submitted its report to CSIR Director-General Dr. Shekhar Mande. The report will be sent to the directors of four-five CSIR labs, which were investigated, for necessary action. An independent committee that was formed in … Continue reading Investigation into papers with problematic images complete, report submitted: CSIR director-general
Research ethics
UGC’s half-hearted attempt to teach research ethics
Finally, UGC is set to introduce a course for PhD students on research and publication ethics. Ironically, the course will not be teaching even the basics of preparing images for publication. India has the highest probability of containing problematic images in published papers. After years of ignoring the elephant in the room, the University Grants … Continue reading UGC’s half-hearted attempt to teach research ethics
NEJM retracts Chandigarh doctors’ image for plagiarism, case concoction
Indian doctors at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh have their 'Image in Clinical Medicine' photo published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) retracted. It is not only a case of image plagiarism, but concoction of a medical case they never came across. If by now researchers in India have become aware … Continue reading NEJM retracts Chandigarh doctors’ image for plagiarism, case concoction
IISc professor has two papers retracted, three corrected for image issues
Two papers of Prof. Kithiganahalli N. Balaji from IISc have been retracted and three more have been corrected for issues with images, including duplication and undeclared gel splices. Two more papers of his have been listed on PubPeer website. On December 13, 2019, two papers of Prof. Kithiganahalli N. Balaji from the Department of Microbiology … Continue reading IISc professor has two papers retracted, three corrected for image issues
ICMR-NICED scientist has 16 papers with duplicated, manipulated images
Dr. Mamta Chawla-Sarkar, a senior scientist at ICMR's NICED has 16 papers listed on PubPeer for image duplication and/or manipulation. Six of these papers were published when she was a Post-doc in Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Science. A senior scientist — Dr. Mamta Chawla-Sarkar — … Continue reading ICMR-NICED scientist has 16 papers with duplicated, manipulated images
Authorship in 73 journal papers from India up for sale
A Russian website has listed 344 papers accepted for publication by journals from different countries where authorship is available for a fee. There are 73 papers listed from journals based in India, which is the highest. Web of Science Group, Clarivate Analytics is investigating to identify the journals. There are many things that remain unclear. … Continue reading Authorship in 73 journal papers from India up for sale
65 papers from India retracted for image falsification/fabrication, errors
Among papers retracted in chemistry and material sciences in 2017-2018, 17.2% was from India though only 7.3% papers from India were published, thus contributing to 2.4-fold difference between retractions and papers published. With 18 papers, Dr. Rashmi Madhuri and Dr. Prashant Sharma from IIT Dhanbad had the “largest clusters of retractions in the two-year period”. … Continue reading 65 papers from India retracted for image falsification/fabrication, errors
Manipulation within a photo should always result in a retraction: Elisabeth Bik
Scrutinising images for tell-tale signs of manipulation is no longer a hobby for Dr. Elisabeth Bik; it has become a passion. The passion has become so overpowering that she has taken a “year off from paid work to focus more on science misconduct volunteer work”. She has voluminous papers to report on and a mountain … Continue reading Manipulation within a photo should always result in a retraction: Elisabeth Bik
127 papers from India retracted for image duplication, manipulation
The searchable database of retracted papers launched by RetractionWatch shows 982 papers from India have been retracted so far. Of these, 330 have been retracted for plagiarism and, surprisingly, 118 papers for image duplication and/or manipulation. The number of papers retracted for image issues has suddenly increased since 2016, with 37 papers retracted in 2018 … Continue reading 127 papers from India retracted for image duplication, manipulation
IISc has 33 papers listed on Pubpeer for image duplication
About half a dozen IISc researchers have 33 papers listed on Pubpeer for image duplication. Most of the duplication is within the same paper. With 13 papers, Akhil R. Chakravarty has the most number of problematic articles. A few researchers have already got or are about to get an erratum published. India’s premier institution Indian … Continue reading IISc has 33 papers listed on Pubpeer for image duplication
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