Compiled ｜ Wen Lele
Recently, dozens of papers published by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), a subsidiary of Harvard University in the United States, by the head and three senior researchers of the institute were found to need to be retracted or corrected.According to Science magazine, on January 2, biologist Sholto David published an article on the blog "For Better Science," pointing out that 57 papers co-authored by Laurie Glimcher, president and chief executive officer of DFCI, William Hahn, chief operating officer, Irene Ghobrial, senior vice president, and Kenneth Anderson, center director, between 1997 and 2017 contain errors. These papers mainly involve the basic biology of cancer development and are published in a series of journals such as "Cell," "Nature Medicine," and "Science."These accusations were first reported by the Harvard Crimson and then followed up by the U.S. health and medical media STAT. The latter reported that DFCI began investigating some of these issues a year ago and planned to take action.
David often publishes articles on research integrity and academic publishing on his blog. The errors he found include duplicated image parts that appear multiple times in the same paper, such as protein blots, bands, and data charts."It's difficult to understand how some of these errors occur," David said. However, he refused to indicate whether his findings constitute evidence of scientific misconduct.In a statement, Barrett Rollins, DFCI's official responsible for research integrity, stated that DFCI has requested the retraction of 6 papers and the correction of 31 papers, and that DFCI authors "bear primary responsibility for potential data errors."Rollins stated that DFCI is still investigating other papers containing laboratory data from DFCI and other Harvard University researchers. He added that three of the questioned papers have no "data anomalies."Rollins stated that the investigation may last for one year, but he refused to comment on whether these errors represent scientific misconduct. "Image issues in papers do not prove intentional deception by the authors, and conclusions can only be drawn after careful, fact-based review. Our experience is that errors are often unintentional and do not rise to the level of misconduct."China Science News (2024-01-24 Edition 1 News)Editor | Zhao LuTypography | Zhi Hai Please scan the QR code below for 3 seconds
![[Financial Morning News] Friday, January 26, 2024](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAIAAAACCAYAAABytg0kAAAAFElEQVQYV2N8+vTpfwYGBgZGGAMAUNMHXwvOkQUAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)
