Instances of Scientific Misconduct


Joachim Boldt

Joachim Boldt is infamous for at one point having 103 retracted papers. Joachim Boldt, an anesthetist from Germany, had papers retracted due to falsification/fabrication of data, plagiarism of articles, concerns/issues of results and data, and unreliability in results and data. Prior to being caught for fraud, Joachim Boldt was a leading anesthetist in Europe. Many of his retracted papers came out of Intensive Care Medicine and Der Anesthetist. Much of Joachim Boldt’s work was in medicine – cardiology, medicine – rehabilitation, medicine – surgery, medicine – anesthesia, etc.


A scientist’s fraudulent studies put patients at risk (Science Magazine, October 26, 2018)

A ‘very cautious’ process: Journal retracts reviews by anesthesiologist found to have committed fraud a decade ago (Retraction Watch, May 19, 2020)

An Analysis of Retractions of Papers Authored by Scott Reuben, Joachim Boldt and Yoshitaka Fujii (National Library of Medicine, August 24, 2018)

Anesthesiologist joins the 100-retraction club (Retraction Watch, January 14, 2020)

Boldt: the great pretender (TheBMJ, March 19, 2013)

Boldt’s data were fake in 1996 paper (Retraction Watch, October 29, 2014)

Boldt’s retraction count upped to 94, co-author takes legal action to prevent 95th (Retraction Watch, October 12, 2015)

Does science need a retraction “shame list?” (Retraction Watch, December 16, 2013)

Expert reaction to Joachim Boldt alleged drug research fraud (Science Media Centre, March 4, 2011)

Fraud in publications-retractions and deterrents (PMC, July 2019)

How a data detective exposed suspicious medical trials (Nature, July 23, 2019)

Joachim Boldt – German anesthesiologist who faked data relating to the management of critically ill patients (Dr.Geoff, November 9, 2017)

Medical journals retract “unethical” research (Reuters, March 4, 2011)

The 4th Horseman: Research Fraud & Mountains of Fujii (MetaJournal, November 10, 2020)

Three more retractions for former record-holder Boldt, maybe more to come (Retraction Watch, August 13, 2015)

When it comes to retracting papers by the world’s most prolific scientific fraudsters, journals have room for improvement (Retraction Watch, September 6, 2018)

When you have 94 retractions, what’s two more? (Retraction Watch, March 1, 2017)