Instances of Scientific Misconduct


Fazlul Sarkar

Fazlul Sarkar was originally a researcher from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is infamous for at one time having 41 retractions. Much of the research he conducted was in biochemistry, biology, genetics, pathology, toxicology, etc. Many of his retractions were originally in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, PLOS ONE, and The Scientist. His papers were retracted due to the falsification/fabrication of images, manipulation of images, misconduct, misconduct by author, falsification/fabrication of data, and concerns about data. Due to his misconduct, Fazlul Sarkar was forced to terminate his job at Wayne State University. In addition, he was not offered employment at the University of Mississippi due to his acts of fraud.


Can Social Media Enhance the Quality of Research, Ms Shema? (HumboldtKosmos, January 08, 2018)

Cancer researcher says anonymous online comments on a research-sharing website cost him a new job at U. of Mississippi. (Inside Higher Ed, November 4, 2013)

Cancer researcher who once tried to sue critics is up to 40 retracted papers. (Retraction Watch, October 4, 2018)

Caught Our Notice: Researcher who sued PubPeer commenter up to 21 retractions (Retraction Watch, April 5, 2018)

Caught Our Notice: Researcher who sued PubPeer commenter draws 19th retraction (Retraction Watch, December 28, 2017)

Details of investigative report into Sarkar released by ACLU (Retraction Watch, November 17, 2016)

Fallout for co-authors (Science, October 26, 2020)

Fazlul H Sarkar (Longdom, 2020)

Fazlul H Sarkar (Science Transparency, October 6, 2016)

Five more retractions for researcher who sued PubPeer commenters brings tally to 18 (Retraction Watch, August 18, 2016)

PubPeer dealt blow in lawsuit against anonymous commenters (Retraction Watch, December 2, 2016)

PubPeer wins appeal of court ruling to unmask commenters (Retraction Watch, December 7, 2016)

Researcher Fazlul Sarkar Has 12 More Papers Retracted (The Scientist, September 17, 2018)

Researcher who once tried to sue critics has another dozen papers retracted (Retraction Watch, September 17, 2019)

Sarkar vs. John Doe: What happened at this week’s hearing involving PubPeer (Retraction Watch, October 6, 2016)

Scientist embroiled with PubPeer engaged in “widespread research misconduct,” investigation finds (Retraction Watch, October 16, 2015)