Some academic journals correct papers. Others, such as the Interpreter, don't.
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A lot of it is sloppiness’: the biologist who finds flaws in scientific papers
Sholto David has flagged thousands of papers, most because of concerns over potential image manipulation
David, a biologist living in Pontypridd, Wales, threw his efforts into a somewhat obscure hobby: finding flaws in scientific papers and doing his best to have them rectified.
The work, David says, is largely thankless. Academics often got defensive about their studies or refused to respond to his criticisms. Journal editors took a similar tack, ignoring his letters, rejecting them, or investigating on timescales bordering on the glacial.
But then came an announcement. Last week, one of the most prestigious cancer centres in the US, the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said it was seeking to retract six research papers and correct 31 more after David raised concerns in a blog about dozens of its studies. Many were conducted by top executives at the institute.
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“To the credit of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, I’m obviously glad they are going to do the corrections and retractions. But at the same time, it does leave a sour taste in the mouth. Most of the time this just doesn’t happen. People ignore you, institutions insist it takes years to do investigations, and journals drag their feet at every opportunity.”
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