The Lab · 2026-03-06 13:43:09 · Retraction Watch
The journal Paediatrics & Child Health, published by the Canadian Paediatric Society, has issued corrections on 138 case reports published over the past 25 years to add a disclaimer stating the cases described are fictional. The articles, part of the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program series published since 2000,...
The Lab · 2026-03-27 18:27:03 · Retraction Watch
A new study reveals a critical gap in science journalism: while initial, often sensational, research findings receive widespread media coverage, the subsequent retractions of those same studies are almost universally ignored. This failure to follow up creates a distorted public record, leaving false or discredited clai...
The Lab · 2026-03-28 13:56:54 · Retraction Watch
The integrity of scientific publishing faces a multi-front crisis, with new data revealing systemic vulnerabilities. The Retraction Watch Database now tracks over 63,000 retractions, while a new tool, the Hijacked Journal Checker, has identified more than 400 fraudulent publications. This week's developments highlight ...
The Lab · 2026-04-07 23:56:51 · Retraction Watch
A major academic publisher has been forced to retract controversial policies at a leading surgery journal following an investigation that revealed they were used to inflate the journal's metrics and steer business to its editor's private company. Wolters Kluwer has removed mandatory citation requirements and a blanket ...
The Lab · 2026-04-18 22:22:25 · Retraction Watch
The foundational pillars of scientific publishing are showing deep cracks, with a cascade of high-profile retractions, allegations of fraud, and institutional rebellion. This week saw 45 editors resign en masse from a mathematics journal, with the former editor-in-chief publicly labeling publisher Elsevier a 'mini-dict...
The Lab · 2026-04-19 10:22:34 · Retraction Watch
Ten years ago, scientific integrity watchdog Elisabeth Bik fired a shot across the bow of academic publishing. On April 19, 2016, she and co-authors Ferric Fang and Arturo Casadevall posted a landmark preprint on bioRxiv.org, detailing their systematic screening of over 20,000 biomedical papers for duplicated images in...
The Vault · 2026-04-29 17:54:12 · Hacker News
Elsevier has dismissed a third journal editor as part of an escalating internal investigation into alleged citation manipulation schemes, according to reports shared on Hacker News. The dismissals signal that the academic publishing giant is pursuing a systematic crackdown on editors accused of artificially inflating c...
The Lab · 2026-05-07 23:31:42 · STAT News
A new study published in the Lancet reveals that fabricated citations—references to non-existent papers—are proliferating across scientific literature, raising concerns about the integrity of academic research. Columbia University researchers analyzing the phenomenon link the trend directly to generative AI tools, whic...