Chemist Hitler Louis Nears 35 Retractions for Image Duplication, Self-Citation, and Compromised Peer Review

Chemist Hitler Louis (also known as Louis Hitler Muzong) is nearing 35 retractions within just 24 months, earning a place on Retraction Watch's leaderboard. The problematic papers, primarily published in Elsevier and Royal Society of Chemistry journals, exhibit a range of serious issues as cited in retraction notices. These include identical plots representing different chemical systems, self-citations that multiplied between manuscript submission and publication, compromised peer review, and fundamental errors in chemical analyses. Louis did not respond to requests for comment. Until recently, his LinkedIn profile identified him as a Ph.D. student in computational chemistry at the University of Leeds with an expected completion in October 2027. However, retraction notices for two papers indicate Louis requested his Leeds affiliation be removed, with one stating the research is not associated with the institution and another that the affiliation was given incorrectly. The University of Leeds did not respond to a request to verify his student status. Following inquiries from Retraction Watch, Louis's LinkedIn profile appears to have been scrubbed, removing mentions of Leeds, the University of Calabar in Nigeria, and the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The profile now only identifies him as working in an unspecified capacity.