News Articles


News Articles 2021:

January:

Opinion: Blowing the Whistle on Research Grant Fraud (The Scientist, January 1, 2021)

Retracted scientific paper persists in new citations, study finds (Illinois News Bureau, January 5, 2021)

Data Sharing for Greater Scientific Transparency (Association for Psychological Science, January 6, 2021)

Trump’s new rule restricting EPA’s use of certain science could have short life (Science Magazine, January 6, 2021)

The Bad Retraction (Psychology Today, January 11, 2021)

‘Deeply unfair’: First author of newly retracted paper on weight and honesty speaks out (Retraction Watch, January 13, 2021)

Trump officials reassigned by White House after publishing controversial climate papers without approval (The Washington Post, January 13, 2021)

Many scientists citing two scandalous COVID-19 papers ignore their retractions (Science Magazine, January 15, 2021)

What my retraction taught me (Nature, January 19, 2021)

Royal Society of Chemistry retracts 70 fake ‘paper mill’ articles (Chemistry World, January 20, 2021)

A Scientist Is Arrested, and Academics Push Back (The New York Times, January 26, 2021)

Biden orders sweeping review of government science integrity policies (Science Magazine, January 27, 2021)

Did a Journal Editor Publish Someone Else’s Work as His Own? (Inside Higher Ed, January 27, 2021)

Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policymaking (The White House, January 27, 2021)

Prominent Chinese immunologist and research integrity leader cleared of scientific misconduct (Chemistry World, January 27, 2021)


February:

New bot flags scientific studies that cite retracted papers (Nature Index, February 2, 2021)

Okinawa university suspends researcher for six months following findings of plagiarism and faked data (Retraction Watch, February 2, 2021)

Biden has assembled a stellar science team — now they must pull together (Nature, February 3, 2021)

Science Group Urges Passage of Scientific Integrity Act (Union of Concerned Scientists, February 3, 2021)

When Scientific Data Is Too Good to Be True (HAARETZ, February 5, 2021)

Why politics has no place in science (The Oxford Scientist, February 8, 2021)

EPA Takes Action to Protect Scientific Integrity (United States Environmental Protection Agency, February 9, 2021)

Why We Must Rebuild Trust in Science (PEW, February 9, 2021)

‘Politics was always in the room.’ WHO mission chief reflects on China trip seeking COVID-19’s origin (Science Magazine, February 14, 2021)

‘Conference organizers have ignored this:’ How common is plagiarism and duplication in abstracts? (Retraction Watch, February 16, 2021)

Opinion: A better approach for dealing with reproducibility and replicability in science (PNAS, February 16, 2021)

‘No malicious intent’: Authors retract week-old Science Advances paper based on embargoed data (Retraction Watch, February 17, 2021)

Publisher retracting five papers because of “clear evidence” that they were “computer generated” (Retraction Watch, February 17, 2021)

Media and aggression research retracted after scrutiny (Science Magazine, February 19, 2021)

Journal to Retract Psych Paper After Plagiarism Allegations, Editor Steps Down (Medscape, February 24, 2021)

Was “science” on the ballot? (Science Magazine, February 26, 2021)


March:

University of New Mexico investigation finds manipulated data and images, prompts retractions (Retraction Watch, March 4, 2021)

Authors retract Nature Majorana paper, apologize for “insufficient scientific rigour” (Retraction Watch, March 8, 2021)

Feelings about scientists a factor in COVID‐19 attitudes, behaviors (Michigan News, University of Michigan, March 9, 2021)

What is research misconduct? European countries can’t agree (Science Magazine, March 10, 2021)

Bad blood at a lab leads to retraction after postdoc publishes study without supervisor’s permission (Retraction Watch, March 15, 2021)

Retracting publications doesn’t stop them from influencing science (Massive Science, March 15, 2021)

A way out of the replication crisis (Chicago Booth Review, March 16, 2021)

Federal ‘brain drain’ threatens American scientific leadership, new report says (The Washington Post, March 17, 2021)

Meet the medical resident who had his wife peer review five of his papers (Retraction Watch, March 19, 2021)

We Need Social Science, Not Just Medical Science, to Beat the Pandemic (Scientific American, March 20, 2021)

AstraZeneca accused of cherry-picking vaccine study data (Associated Press News, March 23, 2021)

The fight against fake-paper factories that churn out sham science (Nature, March 23, 2021)

Biden task force to probe science manipulation under Trump (NBC News, March 29, 2021)

New statistical method eases data reproducibility crisis (Science Daily, March 30, 2021)

Opinion: Past is future for the era of COVID-19 research in the social sciences (PNAS, March 30, 2021)

Author, Author! Or perhaps we should say Fake Author, Fake Author! (Retraction Watch, March 31, 2021)


April:

Scientists Should Admit They Bring Personal Values to Their Work (Scientific American, April 1, 2021)

Seven barred from research after plagiarism, duplications in eleven papers (Retraction Watch, April 5, 2021)

An author asked for multiple corrections to a paper. PLOS ONE decided to retract it. (Retraction Watch, April 6, 2021)

The replication crisis devastated psychology. This group is looking to rebuild it. (Vox, April 7, 2021)

Top German psychologist fabricated data, investigation finds (Science Magazine, April 8, 2021)

Anesthesiologist loses 50 more papers in 12 months (Retraction Watch, April 9, 2021)

Biden’s ‘trust the science’ approach hits a political snag (POLITICO, April 13, 2021)

Can We Encourage Public Self-Correction in the Scientific Record? (Social Science Space, April 13, 2021)

Communication is central to the mission of science (Nature, April 13, 2021)

Using emotion and humor to combat science misinformation (Science Daily, April 13, 2021)

Research misconduct findings, 15-year publishing ban in graduate student suicide case (Nature Index, April 15, 2021)

What if scientific studies disagree? (The National Academies, April 16, 2021)

“[N]o intention to make any scientific fraud” as researchers lose four papers (Retraction Watch, April 20, 2021)

Science Lessons From the Pandemic (PEW, April 27, 2021)

Policy Watch: Increasing Attention Toward Behavioral Science (Association for Psychological Science, April 30, 2021)


May:

New White House panel aims to separate science, politics (Associated Press News, May 10, 2021)

The White House Announces Scientific Integrity Task Force Formal Launch and Co-Chairs (The White House, May 10, 2021)

How COVID is changing the study of human behaviour (Nature, May 18, 2021)

A New Replication Crisis: Research that is Less Likely to be True is Cited More (UC San Diego News Center, May 21, 2021)

Unreliable social science research gets more attention than solid studies (Science Magazine, May 21, 2021)

Skepticism Of Science In A Pandemic Isn’t New. It Helped Fuel The AIDS Crisis (NPR, May 23, 2021)

‘Regrettably it took too long to investigate and retract this paper.’ (Retraction Watch, May 24, 2021)

Congratulations! Your already-published article has just been rejected (Retraction Watch, May 25, 2021)

Publishers grapple with an invisible foe as huge organised fraud hits scientific journals (Chemistry World, May 25, 2021)

Scientific image sleuth faces legal action for criticizing research papers (Nature, May 27, 2021)

Scientists rally around misconduct consultant facing legal threat after challenging COVID-19 drug researcher (Science Magazine, May 27, 2021)

Anesthesiology researcher guilty of misconduct in more than 140 papers: Investigation (Retraction Watch, May 28, 2021)


June:

How news coverage affects public trust in science (Science Daily, June 1, 2021)

Why do researchers falsify data? (MVOrganizing, June 1, 2021)

Protecting scientific freedoms to combat the COVID-19 pandemic (International Science Council, June 2, 2021)

First, this paper was corrected. Now it has an expression of concern. And maybe, just maybe, it will be retracted. (Retraction Watch, June 4, 2021)

The replication crisis won’t be solved with broad brushstrokes (Nature, June 8, 2021)

What the Public Really Thinks About Scientists (American Scientist, June 9, 2021)

‘A costly mistake’ prompts retraction of paper on hair loss (Retraction Watch, June 14, 2021)

Science for All? Confronting Inequities and Envisioning Federal Science as a Public Good (American Bar Association, June 14, 2021)

Special Collection: Examining the Intersection of Behavioral Science and Advocacy (Behavioral Scientist, June 14, 2021)

EPA Scientific Integrity Officer Acknowledged Delay of Internal Scientific Integrity Reports (Columbia Law School, June 15, 2021)

‘We need to talk’: ways to prevent collaborations breaking down (Nature, June 15, 2021)

How the COVID pandemic is changing global science collaborations (Nature, June 16, 2021)

Research collaborations bring big rewards: the world needs more (Nature, June 16, 2021)

EPA chief reinstates science advisory board he dismantled (Associated Press News, June 18, 2021)

How a Sharp-Eyed Scientist Became Biology’s Image Detective (The New Yorker, June 23, 2021)

Biden administration asks for public’s help to bring science back (CNN, June 25, 2021)

Zombie research haunts academic literature long after its supposed demise (The Economist, June 26, 2021)

House Passes Bills to Bolster Scientific Research, Breaking With Senate (The New York Times, June 28, 2021)

Retracted papers continue to circulate on social media, spreading misinformation (Massive Science, June 28, 2021)


July:

Scientists quit journal board, protesting ‘grossly irresponsible’ study claiming COVID-19 vaccines kill (Science Magazine, July 1, 2021)

How well do databases and journals indicate retractions? Hint: Inconsistently. (Retraction Watch, July 2, 2021)

Authors of widely panned study of masks in children respond to critics (Retraction Watch, July 8, 2021)

How a holistic research retreat can help our science (Nature, July 8, 2021)

How Science Moved Beyond Peer Review During The Pandemic (FiveThirtyEight, July 8, 2021)

Researchers forfeit $10,000 award when paper’s findings can’t be replicated (Retraction Watch, July 8, 2021)

How Much Scientific Research Is Actually Fraudulent? (Reason, July 9, 2021)

Journal retracts paper claiming COVID-19 vaccines kill (Science Magazine, July 9, 2021)

JAMA journal retracts paper on masks for children (Retraction Watch, July 16, 2021)

Large survey finds questionable research practices are common (Science Magazine, July 16, 2021)

Ivermectin COVID-19 Scandal Shows How Vulnerable Science Is to Fraud (Science Alert, July 19, 2021)

How COVID-19 has transformed scientific fieldwork (Science Magazine, July 20, 2021)

Journals retract papers following publication of university investigation by Retraction Watch (Retraction Watch, July 21, 2021)

8% of researchers in Dutch survey have falsified or fabricated data (Nature, July 22, 2021)


August:

Why Bad Science Is Sometimes More Appealing Than Good Science (Scientific American, August 1, 2021)

Federal employees and the public express concern over reports of political interference in science (CNN, August 2, 2021)

Talking to science deniers and sceptics is not hopeless (Nature, August 5, 2021)

How A Meteorologist Does His Job When Climate Change Is Politicized (NPR, August 8, 2021)

Whistle-Blowing Scientist Quits Government With Final Broadside (The New York Times, August 9, 2021)

Voices of the new generation: open science is good for science (and for you) (Nature, August 11, 2021)

“What We Have Here, Is a Failure to [Replicate]” (RAND, August 13, 2021)

Fostering multidisciplinary collaborations (Nature, August 20, 2021)

Daily briefing: Honesty study to be retracted over faked data (Nature, August 23, 2021)

Doing the right thing: Co-authors of researcher who covered up data fakery retract paper (Retraction Watch, August 24, 2021)

Fraudulent data raise questions about superstar honesty researcher (Science Magazine, August 24, 2021)

Dan Ariely and the Credibility of (Social) Psychological Science (Replicability-Index, August 27, 2021)

Is Psychology Lost From Science? (Psychology Today, August 28, 2021)

Publisher retracting more than 30 articles from paper mills (Retraction Watch, August 30, 2021)


September:

In a time of COVID and climate change, social sciences are vital, but they’re on university chopping blocks (The Conversation, September 1, 2021)

Leading the charge to address research misconduct (American Psychological Association, September 1, 2021)

When Researchers Sound the Alarm on Problematic Papers (The Scientist, September 1, 2021)

An unpublished COVID-19 paper alarmed this scientist—but he had to keep silent (Science Magazine, September 3, 2021)

Authors object after Springer Nature journal cedes to publisher Frontiers’ demand for retraction (Retraction Watch, September 7, 2021)

How misconduct helped psychological science to thrive (Nature, September 7, 2021)

Preprint advocates must also fight for research integrity (Nature, September 13, 2021)

Swedish research misconduct agency swamped with cases in first year (Nature, September 13, 2021)

New guidelines to improve reporting standards of studies that investigate causal mechanisms (Science Daily, September 21, 2021)

Publishers unite to tackle doctored images in research papers (Nature, September 28, 2021)

Springer Nature slaps more than 400 papers with expressions of concern all at once (Retraction Watch, September 28, 2021)

Paper that ripped off a PhD thesis is retracted (Retraction Watch, September 29, 2021)

Top secret: U.S. National Academy of Medicine keeps expulsions quiet (Science Magazine, September 29, 2021)


October:

China’s clampdown on fake-paper factories picks up speed (Nature, October 1, 2021)

Leading journal retracts papers over peer-review (Inside Higher ED, October 1, 2021)

Column: Scientists and experts get plenty wrong. But we should still trust them (LA Times, October 4, 2021)

Here’s what happened when a publisher looked more closely at a paper milled paper (Retraction Watch, October 6, 2021)

Mexican science board tells researchers: don’t criticize (ABC News, October 8, 2021)

Partisan Science in America (Wall Street Journal, October 11, 2021)

Psychology is in a crisis. But not the one you’re thinking of (Science Focus, October 12, 2021)

Retracted coronavirus (COVID-19) papers (Retraction Watch, October 12, 2021)

Chilean researchers unhappy following investigation of star neuroscientist (Nature, October 13, 2021)

COVID scientists in the public eye need protection from threats (Nature, October 13, 2021)

Researchers urge funders and institutions to crack down on false investigators (Nature Index, October 19, 2021)

Tips for collaborating with scientists, from a philosopher (Nature, October 22, 2021)

The Real Scandal About Ivermectin (The Atlantic, October 23, 2021)

The pandemic’s slowing of research productivity may last years—especially for women and parents (Science Magazine, October 26, 2021)

The pandemic turned them into celebrities. Now, scientists are grappling with new power—and internet hate (Science Magazine, October 27, 2021)

Climate change misinformation fools too many people – but there are ways to combat it (The Conversation, October 28, 2021)

DNA barcoding paper retracted after its first author flags serious problems (Science Magazine, October 28, 2021)


November:

Ending the Reproducibility Crisis (Issues in Science and Technology, November 1, 2021)

Ivermectin-COVID-19 study retracted; authors blame file mixup (Retraction Watch, November 2, 2021)

Paper on how trans youth come of age is retracted following ethics board investigation (Retraction Watch, November 2, 2021)

The African Academy of Sciences is in crisis — responsibility must be shared (Nature, November 3, 2021)