Instances of Scientific Misconduct | James Hunton

James Hunton

James E. Hunton, a professor of accounting at Bentley University in Massachusetts and a leading scholar in corporate ethics, was found to have fabricated data across dozens of studies. His 2010 paper in The Accounting Review was first questioned when the authors could not provide supporting information or raw data, citing a confidentiality agreement. Later investigations by Bentley University and the American Accounting Association revealed a pattern of falsified and unverifiable data, with co-authors lacking any access to the original research, Hunton ultimately resigned from Bentley in 2012, and more than 36 of his papers were retracted for data fabrication and methodological misconduct.

Accounting fraud paper retracted for “misstatement” (Retraction watch, November 20, 2012)

​Accounting professor notches 30 (!) retractions after misconduct finding (Retraction Watch, June 29, 2025)

Citing ‘misconduct,’ accounting journal retracts 25 articles by once-renowned scholar (The Washington Post, June 30, 2015)

Detecting Academic Fraud Using Benford Law: The Case of Professor James Hunton (SSRN, May 5, 2018) 

Former accounting prof adds 4 more retractions, bringing total to 37 (Retraction Watch, May 12, 2016)

RETRACTED: Can directors’ self-interests influence accounting choices? (Science Direct April 2016)

Retraction of articles related to James E. Hunton (American Accounting Association, June 25, 2015)

Second retraction appears for former accounting professor James Hunton (Retraction Watch, January 27, 2015)

Self-regulation of the academic accounting literature: The case of James Hunton (Science Direct, May 4, 2017) 

The Retraction Watch Leaderboard (Retraction Watch, Accessed October 13, 2025)