List Of Scientific Misconduct Incidents
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Scientific misconduct Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countrie ...
is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional
scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...
. A '' Lancet'' review on ''Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countries'' gave examples of policy definitions. In Denmark, scientific misconduct is defined as "intention lnegligence leading to fabrication of the scientific message or a false credit or emphasis given to a scientist", and in Sweden as "intention ldistortion of the research process by fabrication of data, text, hypothesis, or methods from another researcher's manuscript form or publication; or distortion of the research process in other ways." A 2009
systematic review A systematic review is a Literature review, scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from publ ...
and
meta-analysis A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...
of survey data found that about 2% of scientists admitted to falsifying, fabricating, or modifying data at least once. Preference for inclusion on this list is for individuals or entities with their own Wikipedia article, and for incidents referenced to multiple sources.


Biology and biomedical sciences

*
Bharat Aggarwal Bharat B. Aggarwal is an Indian-American biochemist. His research has been in the areas of cytokines, the role of inflammation in cancer, and the anti-cancer effects of spices and herbs, particularly curcumin (a chemical constituent of the spice ...
(US), a former Ransom Horne, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Cancer Research at the
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (colloquially MD Anderson Cancer Center) is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the U.S. and one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers ...
, resigned his position after fraud was discovered in 65 papers published by him in the area of
curcumin Curcumin is a bright yellow chemical produced by plants of the ''Curcuma longa'' species. It is the principal curcuminoid of turmeric (''Curcuma longa''), a member of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is sold as a herbal supplement, cosmetic ...
as a treatment for cancer. As of 2022 Aggarwal has had 30 of his research papers retracted, ten others have received an expression of concern, and 17 others have been corrected. *Anna Ahimastos (Australia) resigned from her position at Melbourne's Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in 2015 after admitting to fabricating data in a trial of the blood pressure drug
ramipril Ramipril, sold under the brand name Altace among others, is an ACE inhibitor type medication used to treat high blood pressure, heart failure, and diabetic kidney disease. It can also be used as a preventative medication in patients over 55 year ...
that analyzed if ramipril could reduce pain in people with
peripheral artery disease Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is an abnormal narrowing of arteries other than those that supply the heart or brain. When narrowing occurs in the heart, it is called coronary artery disease, and in the brain, it is called cerebrovascular diseas ...
. *
Elias Alsabti Elias Abdel Kuder Alsabti (1954-1990) was an Iraqi medical researcher who was exposed for scientific fraud. Life Alsabti built a career as an impostor. In Iraq, he claimed to have made a breakthrough in cancer research, winning a large grant from ...
(Iraq, US), was a medical practitioner who posed as a biomedical researcher. He plagiarized as many as 60 papers in the field of cancer research, many with non-existent co-authors. * Werner Bezwoda (South Africa), formerly of the
University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...
, admitted to scientific misconduct in trials on high-dose chemotherapy on breast cancer, stating that he had "committed a serious breach of scientific honesty and integrity." *
Joachim Boldt Joachim Boldt (born 29 September 1954) is a German anesthesiologist who fabricated or falsified data, including those reporting clinical trial results. Boldt was previously considered to be a leading researcher of medicinal colloids. He was an ad ...
(Germany), an anesthesiologist formerly based at the
Justus Liebig University Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...
, was stripped of his professorship and criminally investigated for forgery in his research studies. As of 2022 Boldt has had 164 of his research publications retracted. * C. David Bridges (US), a researcher at
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
and formerly at
Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) is a medical school and research center in Houston, Texas, within the Texas Medical Center, the world's largest medical center. BCM is composed of four academic components: the School of Medicine, the Graduate Sc ...
, was found by a
NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
investigation panel to have stolen ideas from a rival's manuscript that Bridges had been asked to review, and used that information to produce and publish his own research on eye enzyme. The investigating panel described Bridges' conduct as "an egregious misconduct of science that undermines the entire concept and practice of scientific experimentation and ethical responsibility", with NIH later stripping Bridges of his funding. *
Silvia Bulfone-Paus Silvia Bulfone-Paus (born Silvia Bulfone) is an Italian immunologist, who gained widespread attention in mainstream media for rampant scientific misconduct. She is the chair of the Research Center Borstel's Department of Immunology and Cell Biol ...
(Germany, UK), an immunologist at the
Research Center Borstel The Research Center Borstel – Leibniz Lung Center (german: Forschungszentrum Borstel – Leibniz Lungenzentrum, FZB) is a German interdisciplinary biomedical research institution located in Borstel in Schleswig-Holstein, just north of Hamburg. ...
and a professor of immunobiology at the
University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, has had 13 of her publications retracted following investigations of scientific misconduct involving image manipulation. *
Cyril Burt Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt, FBA (3 March 1883 – 10 October 1971) was an English educational psychologist and geneticist who also made contributions to statistics. He is known for his studies on the heritability of IQ. Shortly after he died, his s ...
was accused posthumously of faking statistics in
I.Q. An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from a set of standardized tests or subtests designed to assess human intelligence. The abbreviation "IQ" was coined by the psychologist William Stern for the German term ''Intelligenzq ...
studies, and of inventing two co-authors in questionable papers he had published. *
Ranjit Chandra Ranjit Kumar Chandra (रंजीत कुमार चंद्रा; born February 2, 1938) is an Indian-born Canadian researcher and self-proclaimed "father of nutritional immunology" who committed scientific and health care fraud. Chandra ...
(Canada), former nutrition researcher at
Memorial University of Newfoundland Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...
and self-proclaimed "father of nutritional immunology", was in 2015 stripped of his
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...
membership following accusations of scientific wrongdoing in his research. In 2015 Chandra lost a $132 million case against the CBC, which in 2006 presented a documentary in which 10 of Chandra's publications were identified as "fraudulent or highly suspicious"; Chandra was ordered to pay the CBC $1.6 million to cover the defendant's legal fees. As of 2020 four of Chandra's research publications have been retracted. *
Ching-Shih Chen Ching-Shih Chen is the former Lucius A. Wing Chair of Cancer Research and professor of medicinal chemistry at Ohio State University (OSU). In 2018, Chen resigned his positions at OSU, and the university released a report on an investigation into Ch ...
(US), the former chair of cancer research at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, was investigated by OSU and the federal Office of Research Integrity after being anonymously reported for falsifying data. The investigation found that Chen mishandled images and figures in published papers, "intentionally falsified data", and did not keep any laboratory notebooks on his research, a violation of federal research policies. As of 2021 Chen has had ten research publications retracted, two other papers have received an expression of concern, and five other papers have been corrected. * In 2022, Lorenza Colzato, a former
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
researcher, was found to have conducted fraud in at least 15 published studies, such as making changes to the research design, adding control groups afterward, and even omitting data. Colzato was first accused of fraud in 2019, when she was found to have illegally withdrawn blood from test subjects and had two of her publications retracted as a result. * Carlo M. Croce (US), an oncologist and professor of medicine at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, has been the subject of several allegations of scientific misconduct, including data falsification, and related institutional investigations. Croce, who has been described as a "serial plaintiff", has filed lawsuits against critics, including a defamation claim against ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' that in 2018 was dismissed, a defamation lawsuit he lost against David Sanders of
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
and a lawsuit he lost against
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
to reclaim a department chair position from which he was removed. As of 2022, 14 of Croce's research publications have been retracted, four others have received an expression of concern, and 23 others have been corrected. * John Darsee (US), a cardiologist formerly based at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, fabricated data in published research articles and more than 100 abstracts and book chapters. In 1983 Darsee was disbarred for ten years by the US
National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
. Darsee has had at least 17 of his publications retracted. * Dipak Das (US), former director of the Cardiovascular Research Center at the
University of Connecticut Health Center UConn Health (formerly known as the UConn Health Center) is the branch of the University of Connecticut that oversees clinical care, advanced biomedical research, and academic education in medicine. The main branch is located in Farmington, Connec ...
, was found in a University investigation to be guilty of 145 counts of fabrication or falsification of research data. As of 2021, Das has had 22 of his research publications retracted. *
Masoumeh Ebtekar Masoumeh Ebtekar ( fa, معصومه ابتکار; born 21 September 1960) was the former Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs, from August 9, 2017, to September 1, 2021. She previously headed Department of Environment from 1997 ...
(Iran), head of the Iranian Department of Environment at
Tarbiat Modares University Tarbiat Modares University ( fa, دانشگاه تربیت مدرس:  ''Dāneshgāh-e Tarbiyat Modares'', lit. "Professor Training University") is an exclusively graduate university with its main campus in Tehran, Iran. It was founded in 1982 a ...
in Tehran, substantially plagiarized several previously-published articles in a 2006 paper that was later retracted. * Terry Elton (US), Professor of Pharmacology at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
, was found guilty in 2013 of scientific misconduct by both a University committee and the
Office of Research Integrity The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is a U.S. government agency that focuses on research integrity, especially in health. It was created when the Office of Scientific Integrity (OSI) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of ...
. Elton has had seven of his publications retracted. * Yoshitaka Fujii (Japan), an anesthesiologist, was found to have fabricated data in at least 183 scientific papers, setting what is believed to be a record for the number of papers by a single author requiring retractions. A committee reviewing 212 papers published by Fujii over a span of 20 years found that 126 were entirely fabricated, with no scientific work done. Only 3 were found to be valid. He was also found to have forged the signatures of scientists he listed as co-authors without their knowledge. As of 2021, Fujii has had 173 of their research publications retracted, and seven others have received an expression of concern. * Dong-Pyou Han (US), former assistant professor of biomedical sciences at
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...
, added human antibodies to samples of rabbit blood in an effort to falsely enhance the utility of an experimental HIV vaccine. In 2015 Han was sentenced to nearly five years in prison and ordered to return $7.2 million to the
NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
. *
Marc Hauser Marc D. Hauser (born October 25, 1959) is an American evolutionary biologist and a researcher in primate behavior, animal cognition and human behavior and neuroscience. Hauser was a professor of psychology at Harvard University from 1998 to 2 ...
(US), an evolutionary biologist and former Professor of psychology at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, was found by a University committee and the US
Office of Research Integrity The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is a U.S. government agency that focuses on research integrity, especially in health. It was created when the Office of Scientific Integrity (OSI) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of ...
to have fabricated and falsified data in his research.Johnson, C., 2012
"Former Harvard professor Marc Hauser fabricated, manipulated data, US says"
''Boston Globe'' nline5 September ccessed 12 September 2012/ref> *Many major trials of the drug
ivermectin Ivermectin (, '' EYE-vər-MEK-tin'') is an antiparasitic drug. After its discovery in 1975, its first uses were in veterinary medicine to prevent and treat heartworm and acariasis. Approved for human use in 1987, today it is used to treat inf ...
that claimed it could prevent COVID-19 were found to show signs of fraud and had "either obvious signs of fabrication or errors so critical they invalidate the study," according to one of the groups investigating the studies. For example, some studies were found to list patients who had never actually participated in the research, and others placed patients who were already statistically more likely to die in the placebo group while putting the healthier patients in the experimental group that received ivermectin. Studies that were found to contain legitimate research were generally inconclusive about the effects of ivermectin on COVID-19. *
He Jiankui He Jiankui (; ; born 1984) is a Chinese biophysics researcher who was an associate professor in the Department of Biology of the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China. Earning his Ph.D. from Rice University ...
(China), former associate professor with the
Southern University of Science and Technology Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) ) is a public research university in Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It changed its English name from South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC) to Sout ...
, was in 2019 sentenced to three years in prison and fined three million yuan (about 430,000 U.S. dollars) for illegally carrying out human embryo gene-editing intended for reproduction. * Woo-suk Hwang (Hwang Woo-suk) (South Korea), former Professor of Biotechnology at
Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three "S ...
, was found by a University committee to have committed "deliberate fabrication" in his research on stem cells, and to have coerced female members of his research team to donate their eggs. In 2009 Hwang was found guilty by the Seoul Central District Court of embezzlement and bioethical violations in connection to his research program. *
Sophie Jamal Sophie Jamal (born on 6 June 1966) is a Canadian endocrinologist and former osteoporosis researcher who was at the centre of a scientific misconduct case in the mid-to-late 2010s. Jamal published a high-profile paper suggesting that the heart ...
(Canada), former Professor of Medicine at
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
and former staff
Endocrinologist Endocrinology (from ''endocrine'' + '' -ology'') is a branch of biology and medicine dealing with the endocrine system, its diseases, and its specific secretions known as hormones. It is also concerned with the integration of developmental events ...
at
Women's College Hospital Women's College Hospital is a teaching hospital in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the north end of Hospital Row, a section of University Avenue where several major hospitals are located. It currently functions as an indepen ...
, Toronto, falsified data from studies of
nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating g ...
compounds in
osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility, and consequent increase in fracture risk. It is the most common reason for a broken bone ...
. Results published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of bio ...
(JAMA) in 2011 were retracted by the Journal in 2016. In 2016 Jamal received a lifetime funding ban from the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; french: Instituts de recherche en santé du Canada; IRSC) is a federal agency responsible for funding health and medical research in Canada. Comprising 13 institutes, it is the successor to the M ...
and in 2018 her license to practice medicine was revoked by the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) is the regulatory college for medical doctors in Ontario, Canada. The college issues certificates of registration for all doctors to allow them to practise medicine as well as: monitors a ...
. Jamal has had four of her research publications retracted. *
Shigeaki Kato is a member of the J-pop group NEWS, from Johnny's Entertainment, Inc. Biography Kato was born in Hiroshima, Japan, but he grew up in Osaka and Yokohama-shi. He joined Johnny's Entertainment on April 17, 1999 when he was 11 years-old. As a ...
(Japan), a former professor at the
University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
, has been confirmed responsible for misconduct in 33 papers on
nuclear receptor In the field of molecular biology, nuclear receptors are a class of proteins responsible for sensing steroids, thyroid hormones, vitamins, and certain other molecules. These receptors work with other proteins to regulate the expression of speci ...
s. Most of the fabrications were discovered on an anonymous bulletin board
2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influe ...
, and the information was spread by anonymous individual(s). (See
Japanese scientific misconduct allegations In 2010s, a series of separate allegations of scientific misconducts were raised involving several scientific papers from various Japanese universities.
.) * Kim Tae-kook (South Korea), formerly of the
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, researc ...
, falsified research on modulating cellular proteins with the synthetic compound CGK733. *
Gideon Koren Gideon Koren, FACMT, FRCP(C) ( he, גדעון קורן; born August 27, 1947 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli-Canadian pediatrician, clinical pharmacologist, toxicologist, and a composer of Israeli folk music. He was a doctor at the Hospit ...
(Canada), former Director of the Motherisk Program at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, published an article without the informed consent of co-author Nancy Olivieri, and sent her anonymous harassing letters. A December 2018 article in ''The Toronto Star'' reported apparent problems in more than 400 papers coauthored by Koren, including "inadequately peer-reviewed, failed to declare, and perhaps even obscure, conflicts of interest, and, in a handful of cases, contain lies about the methodology". Koren has threatened a defamation lawsuit against the editor of ''Therapeutic Drug Monitoring'' for retracting one of Koren's papers. As of 2022 Koren has had six of his research publications retracted, three others have received an expression of concern, and four others have been corrected. *
Steven A. Leadon Steven A. (Tony) Leadon is a former professor of radiation oncology at the University of North Carolina. In 2003, a university found that Leadon had fabricated and falsified data in his research on DNA repair. In 2006, the United States Office of ...
(US), former professor of radiation oncology and head of the molecular radiobiology program at the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
, falsified and fabricated data in his research on DNA repair. Leadon has had seven of his research papers retracted. *
Annarosa Leri Annarosa Leri is a medical doctor and former associate professor at Harvard University. Along with former professor Piero Anversa, Leri was engaged in biomedical research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medica ...
(US, Italy) and Piero Anversa (US, Italy), collaborators and former researchers at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, were found in a 2014 investigation to have "manipulated and falsified" data in their research on endogenous cardiac stem cells, and to have included "false scientific information" in grant applications; these events resulted in
Partners HealthCare Mass General Brigham (MGB) is a Boston-based non-profit hospital and physician network that includes Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), two of the nation's most prestigious teaching institutions. It was f ...
and
Brigham and Women's Hospital Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is the second largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School and the largest hospital in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Along with Massachusetts Gener ...
paying a $10 million settlement to the US government, and pausing a clinical trial based on Anversa and Leri's work. In October 2018, following many failed replications of their work, Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital called for the retraction of 31 publications from the Anversa/Leri research group. As of 2020, Anversa and Leri have had 19 research publications retracted, 17 others have received an expression of concern, and 11 others have been corrected. Anversa and Leri lost a lawsuit they brought against Harvard that claimed the 2014 investigation had damaged their reputations. *
Paolo Macchiarini Paolo Macchiarini (born 22 August 1958) is a Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and manipulative behavior. He has been convicted of research-related crimes in Ita ...
(Sweden, Italy), a thoracic surgeon and researcher formerly at the
Karolinska Institutet The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. The Karolinska Institute is consist ...
, was in 2017 found by an ethics review board to have committed research misconduct, including false claims of clinical success and falsely claiming ethical approval for his surgical interventions, in his work on the surgical implantation of artificial trachea seeded with patients' own stem cells. The review board recommended that six of Macchiarini's publications be retracted. Macchiarini has had eight of his research papers retracted, and two have received an expression of concern. * William McBride (Australia), a physician who discovered the teratogenicity of
thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is a medication used to treat a number of cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications of ...
, was found by an Australian medical tribunal to have "deliberately published false and misleading scientific reports and altered the results of experiments" on the effects of
Debendox Pyridoxine/doxylamine, sold under the brand name Diclectin among others, is a combination of pyridoxine hydrochloride ( vitamin B6) and doxylamine succinate. It is generally used for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (morning sickness); even thou ...
/
Bendectin Pyridoxine/doxylamine, sold under the brand name Diclectin among others, is a combination of pyridoxine hydrochloride ( vitamin B6) and doxylamine succinate. It is generally used for nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (morning sickness); even though ...
on pregnancy. * Moon Hyung-in (South Korea), former Professor in the Department of Medicinal Biotechnology at Dong-A University (South Korea), used false names and email addresses to "peer review" his own research publications. Moon has had 35 of his research publications retracted. *
H.M. Krishna Murthy H.M. Krishna Murthy is a former researcher from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.Hansen, Jeff. "Ex-UAB researcher's work may be fake". The Birmingham News. Retrieved 14 January 2013. In 2009, several of his publications were retracted from sc ...
(US), a protein crystallographer and former research associate professor at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...
, was found in 2009 by a University committee to be "solely responsible for ... fraudulent data" on protein structures published in nine papers. In 2018 the
United States Office of Research Integrity The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) is a U.S. government agency that focuses on research integrity, especially in health. It was created when the Office of Scientific Integrity (OSI) in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Office of ...
placed a 10-year ban on Federal funding for Murthy. As of 2020 ten of Krishna Murthy's publications have been retracted, and two others have received an expression of concern. *
Haruko Obokata is a former stem-cell biologist and research unit leader at Japan's Laboratory for Cellular Reprogramming, Riken Center for Developmental Biology. She claimed in 2014 to have developed a radical and remarkably easy way to generate stimulus-t ...
(Japan) formerly of RIKEN and
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, falsified data in the widely publicized
STAP cell Stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) was a proposed method of generating pluripotent stem cells by subjecting ordinary cells to certain types of stress, such as the application of a bacterial toxin, submersion in a weak acid, or p ...
fraud. As of 2021, Obokata has had four of her research publications retracted. * Luk Van Parijs (US), Associate Professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) fabricated and falsified data in research papers, unpublished manuscripts, and grant applications. He was convicted in 2011 of making a false statement on a federal grant application. Parijs has had five research publications retracted. *
Milena Penkowa Milena Penkowa (born 1973) is a Danish neuroscientist who was a professor at the Panum Institute at the University of Copenhagen from 2009–2010. In 2010 she was convicted of fraud and embezzlement of funds from The Danish Society of Neurosc ...
(Denmark), a neuroscientist and former professor at the
Panum Institute The Panum Building (formerly referred to as the Panum Institute) is a large building complex that is part of the University of Copenhagen's North Campus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It houses the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. This includes ...
of the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
, was in 2010 convicted of fraud and embezzlement of research funds, and in 2012 was found to have committed "deliberate scientific malpractice". In 2017 the University of Copenhagen revoked Penkowa's doctoral degree. As of 2020 Penkowa has had nine of her research publications retracted, and four others have received an expression of concern. *
Eric Poehlman Eric T. Poehlman (born c. 1956), an American scientist in the field of human obesity and aging, was the first academic in the United States to be jailed for falsifying data in a grant application. He had published fraudulent research alleging horm ...
(US), a former Professor in the Department of Medicine at the
University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
, was convicted in 2005 of grant fraud after falsifying data in as many as 17 grant applications between 1992 and 2000. He was the first academic in the United States to be jailed for falsifying data in a grant application. Poehlman has had seven of his publications retracted. * Anil Potti (US), a former Associate Professor of Medicine at
Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, engaged in scientific misconduct "by including false research data in ... published papers, submitted manuscript, grant application, and the research record." Potti's misconduct resulted in the suspension of three clinical trials based on his research and a lawsuit filed against Duke by patients enrolled in those studies. As of 2021 Potti has had 11 of their research publications retracted, and one other paper has received an expression of concern. *
Jonathan Pruitt Jonathan Neal Pruitt is a former academic researcher. He was an Associate Professor of behavioral ecology and Canada 150 Research Chair in Biological Dystopias at McMaster University. Pruitt's research focused primarily on animal personalities a ...
(US, Canada), a behavioral ecologist at
McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical Ga ...
, has been accused of using fabricated data in several research publications, with a group of over 20 scientists finding evidence of manipulated or fabricated numbers in several of Pruitt's publications. In 2021 Pruitt had his doctoral dissertation withdrawn by the
University of Tennessee Knoxville The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...
. As of 2021 Pruitt has had 13 of his research publications retracted, and ten other papers have received an expression of concern. *
Scott Reuben Scott S. Reuben (born 1958) is an American anesthesiologist who falsified data heralding the benefits of the Pfizer pain medication Celebrex while downplaying its negative side effects. He was Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at T ...
(US), a former Professor of Anesthesiology at
Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...
, falsified and fabricated clinical trials involving painkiller medications. Reuben pleaded guilty in 2010 to one count of health care fraud and was sentenced to six months in prison. Reuben has had 25 of his publications retracted. * Steven S. Rosenfeld (US), a former Harvard undergraduate, forged
letters of recommendation A letter of recommendation or recommendation letter, also known as a letter of reference, reference letter or simply reference, is a document in which the writer assesses the qualities, characteristics, and capabilities of the person being recommen ...
for himself in the name of David Dressler, whose laboratory he used. His research on
transfer factor Transfer factors are essentially small immune messenger molecules that are produced by all higher organisms. Transfer factors were originally described as immune molecules that are derived from blood or spleen cells that cause antigen-specific ce ...
, on which two articles were published in the ''
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Sci ...
'' and one article in ''
Annals of Internal Medicine ''Annals of Internal Medicine'' is an academic medical journal published by the American College of Physicians (ACP). It is one of the most widely cited and influential specialty medical journals in the world. ''Annals'' publishes content relevan ...
'', could not be successfully replicated by other scientists. * Alfred Steinschneider (US), a medical doctor formerly based at
Upstate Medical University The State University of New York Upstate Medical University (SUNY Upstate) is a public medical school in Syracuse, New York. Founded in 1834, Upstate is the 15th oldest medical school in the United States and is the only medical school in Central ...
, in 1972 developed the theory, published in the journal ''
Pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...
'' that
SIDS Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and detailed death scene investigation. SIDS usual ...
was caused by prolonged
sleep apnea Sleep apnea, also spelled sleep apnoea, is a sleep disorder in which pauses in breathing or periods of shallow breathing during sleep occur more often than normal. Each pause can last for a few seconds to a few minutes and they happen many times ...
, although none of his research or research conducted subsequently by others supported the theory. The case-study upon which Steinschneider's theory was based was later revealed to involve
infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of reso ...
committed by the mother, with Steinschneider allegedly having ignored evidence and reports that the children were being abused. In 1997 the editor of ''Pediatrics'',
Jerold Lucey Jerold Francis Lucey (March 26, 1926 – December 10, 2017) was an American pediatrician and journal editor. He specialised in the field of neonatology, and introduced several therapies to mainstream use in the United States, including photothe ...
, stated that Steinschneider's original paper on the subject was "seriously flawed" and should not have been published. * Marc Straus (US), former Chief of Oncology and Associate Professor of Medicine at
Boston University Medical Center Boston Medical Center (BMC) is a non-profit 514-bed academic medical center in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest safety-net hospital and Level I trauma center in New England. BMC employs 1,466 physicians—including 711 residents and f ...
, in 1982 admitted to "serious deficiencies", including the use of false data, in research studies he supervised. He also admitted to using ineligible patients in his studies, administering drug dosages different from those in his plan, and not assuring compliance with rules of informed consent. * Jon Sudbø (Norway), an oncologist and former Associate Professor at the
University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
, was found in a 2006 investigation to have manipulated and fabricated data in grant applications and 15 of his research papers. As of 2021 Sudbø has had 12 of his publications retracted, and one other publication has received an expression of concern. * William Summerlin (US), a dermatologist formerly at
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK or MSKCC) is a cancer treatment and research institution in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. MSKCC is one of 52 National Cancer Institute– ...
, in 1974 committed scientific misconduct in his work on transplant immunology. It was from this case that the phrase "painting the mice" originated as a synonym for research fraud. *
Andrew Wakefield Andrew Jeremy Wakefield (born September 3, 1956) is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck off the medical register for his involvement in ''The Lancet'' MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that ...
(UK), a former surgeon and senior lecturer at the
Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...
in London, was found guilty of dishonesty in his research and banned from medicine by the UK
General Medical Council The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by c ...
following an investigation by
Brian Deer Brian Deer is a British investigative reporter, best known for inquiries into the drug industry, medicine and social issues for ''The Sunday Times''. Deer's investigative nonfiction book, ''The Doctor Who Fooled the World,'' was published in Se ...
of the ''
Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
''. Wakefield's claims of a link between the
MMR vaccine The MMR vaccine is a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles), abbreviated as ''MMR''. The first dose is generally given to children around 9 months to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 15 months to 6 years of age, ...
,
autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...
and
inflammatory bowel disease Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammation, inflammatory conditions of the colon (anatomy), colon and small intestine, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis being the principal types. Crohn's disease affects the small intestine a ...
have been reported in the ''
British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...
'' as "based not on bad science but on a deliberate fraud", and the 1998 paper originally presenting his theory was retracted in 2010 by ''
The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...
''. Wakefield was unsuccessful in an attempt to sue detractors/critics for libel and defamation. Wakefield has had two papers retracted and one corrected. *
Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories (IBT Labs) was an American industrial product safety testing laboratory. IBT conducted significant quantities of research for pharmaceutical companies, chemical manufacturers and other industrial clients; at its h ...
fabricated research data to the extent that upon FDA analysis of 867 studies, 618 (71%) were deemed invalid, including many of which were used to gain regulatory approval for widely used household and industrial products. * The company Surgisphere claimed to have hospital data which was used to support studies of the effectiveness of
hydroxychloroquine Hydroxychloroquine, sold under the brand name Plaquenil among others, is a medication used to prevent and treat malaria in areas where malaria remains sensitive to chloroquine. Other uses include treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, an ...
in treating COVID-19. Papers in the ''Lancet'' and ''New England Journal of Medicine'' were retracted in June 2020 when the data was found to be implausible. *The
National Centre for Biological Sciences National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a research centre specialising in biological research. It is a part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Go ...
, one of India's top research institutes and part of the
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a public deemed research university located in Mumbai, India that is dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the D ...
, retracted one of its breakthrough scientific papers in 2021 describing the discovery of iron-sensing
RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...
after its findings and images were found to be manipulated.


Chemistry

*
Leo Paquette Leo Armand Paquette ( – January 21, 2019) was an American organic chemist. Biography He was born on July 15, 1934 to parents Armand and Clarice with roots in Quebec (great-grandfather Edmund was born in Contrecoeur, Quebec) and he received h ...
(US), an Ohio State University professor, plagiarized sections from an unfunded NIH grant application for use in his own NIH grant application. He also plagiarized a NSF proposal for use in one of his scientific publications. * Kenichiro Itami (Japan), Nagoya University professor, falsified data in the widely publicized graphene nanoribbon fraud. As of 2021, Itami has had three of their research publications retracted, one other paper has received an expression of concern, and one other paper has been corrected. * The independent misconduct of two chemists at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Massachusetts caused the drug lab to be shut down and tens of thousands of criminal convictions for drug possession to be overturned.
Annie Dookhan Annie Dookhan (born 1977) is an American convicted felon who formerly worked as a chemist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Drug Abuse lab and admitted to falsifying evidence affecting up to 34,000 cases. Early life and education A ...
admitted to faking test results and adulterating samples to make them consistent with her desired results. Sonja Farak admitted to stealing samples and using them to get high herself. The affairs were documented in the 2020 film ''
How to Fix a Drug Scandal ''How to Fix a Drug Scandal'' is an American true crime documentary miniseries that was released on Netflix on April 1, 2020. It was produced by documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr and examined the roles of two forensic chemists at different la ...
''. * Bengü Sezen (US), a graduate student at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, was found to have falsified data in her research for over a decade by editing
NMR Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field (in the near field) and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with ...
data to fit her desired results. At least six of her research papers have been withdrawn and Columbia University has moved to revoke her Ph.D.


Computer science and mathematics

* Ioan Mang (Romania), a computer scientist at the University of Oradea, plagiarized a paper by cryptographer
Eli Biham Eli Biham ( he, אלי ביהם) is an Israeli cryptographer and cryptanalyst, currently a professor at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology Computer Science department. Starting from October 2008 and till 2013, Biham was the dean of t ...
,
Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...
of the Computer Science Department of Technion,
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
,
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. He was accused of extensive plagiarism in at least eight of his academic papers. * Dănuț Marcu (Romania), a mathematician and computer scientist, was banned from publishing in several journals due to plagiarism. He had submitted a manuscript for publication that was a word-for-word copy of a published paper written by another author. * In 2012, IEEE posted "Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication Principles" regarding a paper by Md. Maruf Monwar, at the University of Northern British Columbia (got PhD from the University of Calgary, Canada, in 2012), Dr. Waqar Haque, Professor of Computer Science and Business School at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada, and Paul, P.P. at University of Rajshahi. The paper "contains significant portions of original text from" three papers by others, and was "copied with insufficient attribution (including appropriate references to the original author(s) and/or paper title) and without permission.", "Due to the nature of this violation, reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper, and future references should be made to the following article ic.."


Philosophy

* (France), a philosopher and a chargé de recherche at the
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science Basic research, also called pure research o ...
(CNRS) in Paris, in 2020 became the subject of academic plagiarism inquiries. Several of her journal publications were subsequently retracted, with the journal ''Vivarium'' publishing a detailed retraction notice. A CNRS investigating committee reported that although the allegations of plagiarism against Roques were unjustified, "the whole body of oques'work in English ..is seriously flawed by the regular presence of bad scholarly practices, by what might be called a sort of active negligence" but concluded that "the vast damage done to MR’s academic standing by the accusations of plagiarism seems already to outweigh in severity any sanction proportionate to the deficiencies and mistakes considered during our enquiry". As of 2021, Roques has had 10 of their published articles retracted. * Martin William Francis Stone, an Irish philosopher formerly at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
, plagiarized in more than 40 publications. *, a philosopher working at the Institute of Communication and Health at the
University of Lugano A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, had articles both in philosophy and communications retracted for plagiarism and failure to credit sources properly. After a minor sanction, he was reinstated by the university in 2017. * Mahmoud Khatami, an Iranian philosopher at the
University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...
, was subject to plagiarism accusations in 2014. A retraction for one article by Khatami due to plagiarism appeared in the philosophy journal ''Topoi'', accompanied by an editorial by the journal editor that confirmed the existence of plagiarism.


Physics and engineering

*
Victor Ninov Victor Ninov ( bg, Виктор Нинов, born June 27, 1959) is a Bulgarian physicist and former researcher who worked primarily in creating heavy elements. He is known for the co-discoveries of elements 110, 111, and 112 (darmstadtium, ro ...
(US), a nuclear chemist formerly at
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...
, was dismissed from his position after falsifying his work on the discovery of elements 116 and 118. *
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...
's disputed refraction results in ''
Optics Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...
'', though this was written before the modern
scientific method The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...
was standardized *
Jan Hendrik Schön Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Num ...
(Germany, US), a researcher in the physics of
semiconductors A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
formerly employed by
Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984), then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996) and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007), is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
, forged results by using the same data sets for different and unrelated experiments. Schön has had 32 of his publications retracted. * Rusi Taleyarkhan (US), a nuclear engineer at
Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...
, was found by a University committee in 2008 to have falsified his research.Purdue physicist found guilty of misconduct
Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2008, Thomas H. Maugh II


Plant biology

* Olivier Voinnet (France) was suspended in 2015 for two years from the
CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...
(the
French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...
) due to multiple cases of data manipulation. In 2016
EMBO Embo ( gd, Eurabol, IPA: iaɾəpɔɫ̪ is a village in the Highland Council Area in Scotland and the former postal county of Sutherland, about north-northeast of Dornoch. On 16 July 1988, Embo declared itself independent from the rest of the ...
recalled the Gold Medal awarded to Voinnet in 2009. As of 2020, Voinnet has had nine research publications retracted, five other papers have received an expression of concern, and 25 other papers have been corrected.


Social sciences

* Mart Bax (Netherlands), former professor of political anthropology at the
Vrije Universiteit The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...
, committed multiple acts of scientific misconduct including data fabrication, with a 2020 article in ''Ethnologia Europaea'' characterizing Bax's misconduct as "incredible and appalling." Bax, who as of 2020 has had nine of his research publications retracted, was found in 2013 to have never published 61 of the papers he listed on his CV. *
Bruno Frey Bruno S. Frey (born 4 May 1941 in Basel, Switzerland) is a Swiss economist and visiting professor for Political Economy at the University of Basel. Frey's research topics include Political economy and Happiness economics, with his published wor ...
(Switzerland), an economist formerly at the
University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
, in 2010–11 committed multiple acts of
self-plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...
in articles about the ''Titanic'' disaster. Frey admitted to the self-plagiarism, terming the acts "grave mistake and "deplorable." *
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Buhl-Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg (born 5 December 1971), known professionally as Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, is a German businessman and politician of the Christian Soc ...
(Germany), former Minister of Defence of Germany resigned from his office because of plagiarism in his doctoral dissertation from the
University of Bayreuth A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
. The university, which had awarded Guttenberg's dissertation with ''“
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
”'' distinction, revoked his Ph.D. title on 23 February 2011, and Guttenberg resigned in March. * Michael LaCour (US), former graduate student in political science at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, was the lead author of the 2014 article "
When contact changes minds "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality" is a fraudulent article by then-UCLA political science graduate student Michael LaCour and Columbia University political science professor Donald Green. The ar ...
". Published in ''
Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' and making international headlines, the paper was later retracted because of numerous irregularities in the methodology and falsified data. Following the retraction
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
rescinded an assistant professorship that had been offered to LaCour. * Philippe Rushton (Canada), formerly of the Department of Psychology at the
University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
and former head of the white supremacist hate group
Pioneer Fund Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. One of its first projects w ...
, engaged in "research
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
was unethical, scientifically flawed, and based on racist ideas and agenda." Rushton has had six of their research publications retracted. *
Diederik Stapel Diederik Alexander Stapel (born 19 October 1966) is a Dutch former professor of social psychology at Tilburg University. In 2011 Tilburg University suspended Stapel for fabricating and manipulating data for his research publications. This scie ...
(Netherlands), former professor of social psychology at
Tilburg University Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilb ...
, fabricated data in dozens of studies on human behaviour, a deception described by the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
as "an audacious academic fraud." Stapel has had 58 of his publications retracted. *
Brian Wansink Brian Wansink is a former American professor and researcher who worked in consumer behavior and marketing research. He is the former executive director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) (2007–2009) and held the Joh ...
(US), former John S. Dyson Endowed Chair in the Applied Economics and Management Department at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
, was found in 2018 by a University investigatory committee to have "committed academic misconduct in his research and scholarship, including misreporting of research data, problematic statistical techniques, failure to properly document and preserve research results, and inappropriate authorship." As of 2020, Wansink has had 18 of his research papers retracted (one twice); seven other papers have received an expression of concern, and 15 others have been corrected. * Francisco Gómez Camacho, a Jesuit priest and emeritus professor at Madrid's
Comillas Pontifical University Comillas Pontifical University ( es, Universidad Pontificia Comillas) is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Spanish Province of the Society of Jesus in Madrid Spain. The university is involved in a number of academic exch ...
, has had three publications about the history of economic theories retracted due to plagiarism.


Other

* In 2016 the scientific publisher
Springer Nature Springer Nature or the Springer Nature Group is a German-British academic publishing company created by the May 2015 merger of Springer Science+Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and Macm ...
retracted 58 papers from seven journals, authored mostly by
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
-based researchers, because the papers showed evidence of authorship manipulation, peer-review manipulation, and/or plagiarism. *
Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...
in 2006 alleged more than three dozen cases of plagiarism in master's degree theses dating back 20 years in its mechanical engineering department. A former faculty member involved in the plagiarism cases, Jay S. Gunasekera, was removed from his position as department chair, had his title of "distinguished professor" rescinded, and in 2011 settled a lawsuit he had brought against the University. Another former faculty member implicated in the plagiarism cases, Bhavin Mehta, in 2012 lost a defamation suit he had brought against the University. * 486 Chinese cancer researchers were found guilty of engaging in a fraudulent peer-review scheme by China's
Ministry of Science and Technology A Science Ministry or Department of Science is a ministry or other government agency charged with science. The ministry is often headed by a Minister for Science. List of Ministries of Science Many countries have a Ministry of Science or Ministry ...
. The investigation was initiated after the retraction of 107 papers published in '' Tumor Biology'' between 2012 and 2016. This is reported to be the most papers retracted from one journal. * An investigation by the UK scientific journal ''Nature'' published on 8 January 2020, found that eight
James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...
(JCU) studies on the effect of climate change on coral reef fish, one of which was authored by the JCU educated discredited scientist Oona Lönnstedt, had a 100 percent replication failure and thus none of the findings of the original eight studies were found to be correct. The Swedish scientists Josefin Sundin and Fredrik Jutfelt were the first to report their suspicions to
Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
. Their informal investigation, and the proofs they collected, lead to the formal investigation. Concerns raised about a study Lönnstedt published while at JCU between 2010 and 2014 included an improbable number of lionfish claimed to have been used in this study, and images of 50 fish provided which appeared to include multiple images of some biological specimens, and two images that had been flipped making two fish appear to be four. Lönnstedt had also been found guilty of fabricating data underpinning a study at Uppsala University in Sweden following her departure from JCU in Queensland, Australia. The study was subsequently retracted.


See also

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Retraction Watch Retraction Watch is a blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers and on related topics. The blog was launched in August 2010 and is produced by science writers Ivan Oransky (Former Vice President, Editorial '' Medscape'') and Adam Ma ...


References

{{reflist * Misconduct incidents Misconduct incidents