All articles tagged with #retraction
A 16-year-old study claiming that infant hepatitis B vaccination increases autism risk has been retracted for fundamental methodological flaws, including too few autism cases (31) and overstated causality. The authors dispute the withdrawal, and the paper had previously been cited in CDC/ACIP discussions, influencing vaccine-safety reviews before the retraction was issued.
Elsevier has retracted a 2021 Toxicology Reports study by Neil Z. Miller that claimed most Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) cases followed vaccination, citing serious methodological flaws in using VAERS data to infer causality and potential public‑health risk. The Editor-in-Chief removed the paper after concerns about the analysis were deemed unresolved, despite Miller’s opposition. The incident adds to a pattern of VAERS-based retractions; VAERS is intended for signal generation rather than establishing causality. A PDF with a “removed” watermark remained visible due to a publishing error.
A 2025 study published in JACC Advances that claimed ketogenic diets don’t promote arterial plaque buildup has been retracted after concerns about selective reporting, questionable control groups, and data anomalies; critics described the authors as social‑media influencers, and coauthor Nicholas Norwitz says they requested the retraction after a deeper analysis revealed anomalies. Retraction Watch published a detailed postmortem, while the authors have posted a reanalysis and continue keto research.
A 2025 paper in JACC: Advances claiming the ketogenic diet does not promote arterial plaque formation has been retracted after widespread critique of methods, data access, and potential conflicts of interest; the journal said the errors were too significant to fix with a corrigendum, and independent reanalyses raised further concerns, fueling ongoing debate about nutrition science and disclosure practices.
ESPN’s report that Patriots sources were in constant contact with Mike Vrabel on draft day was retracted; Vrabel was away for counseling and the team and Vrabel largely limited communication to a few early-morning texts, with the Patriots proceeding on draft day.
A medical researcher fabricated a wholly fictional eye disease named Bixonimania and posted a bogus preprint to see if AI chatbots would diagnose it. Although she clearly stated the work was fake and followed ethical safeguards, AI models like Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini began offering Bixonimania as a possible diagnosis, and the fake disease was even cited in a peer‑reviewed paper before being retracted. The episode underlines how AI can propagate misinformation when readers don’t verify sources, highlight the need for cautious use of AI in medicine, and led the researcher to retract and hide the work to prevent further spread.
The Lancet has retracted a 1977 unsigned commentary on cosmetic talc after discovering the author was a paid Johnson & Johnson consultant, revealing an undeclared conflict of interest; editors say such unsigned pieces would not be published today, and the decision comes amid decades of talc-related litigation and ongoing debates over asbestos testing in cosmetics, including a FDA rule proposal later withdrawn in 2025.
Retraction Watch’s weekend roundup highlights the CDC’s hepatitis B vaccine trial ethics concerns, The Lancet’s stance on a paper with falsified data, and broader discussions on how the scientific community corrects itself, along with a wide array of related retractions, fraud reporting, and publishing integrity stories.
A version of Silvia De Cesare’s paper was published in IJASR under a different author, who denies involvement. The journal removed the paper without a formal retraction, raising questions about transparency and identity-verification in publishing and highlighting ongoing plagiarism issues and predatory journal concerns.
A Nature Retraction Note published January 14, 2026 states that the 2023 study on antibodies against endogenous retroviruses promoting lung cancer immunotherapy has been retracted after an institutional investigation found data integrity concerns. Specific issues include manipulated A549 cell-binding data in Figure 5c, potentially manipulated ADCC results in Figures 5d–e, and unverifiable source data for B cell and antibody quantitation (Figure 3c and Extended Data Fig. 5c). The Francis Crick Institute ruled that co-first author Kevin Ng was responsible for these analyses and recommended retraction. The authors apologized and plan to publish a revised, properly validated report; they note that TRACERx and CAPTURE clinical/genetic data are not indicated to be affected.
The Indie Game Awards retracted the Game of the Year and Debut Game awards from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 after it was revealed that the game used generative AI during development, contrary to the awards' policies. The awards were instead given to Sorry We're Closed and Blue Prince, respectively, with the retraction highlighting ongoing concerns about AI use in game development.
The Indie Game Awards retracted the Game of the Year and Debut Game awards from Expedition 33 after discovering that its developer used generative AI during development, violating the awards' strict no-AI policy, and awarded the Game of the Year to Blue Prince instead.
The authors of a high-profile Nature study predicting that climate change would cost $38 trillion annually by 2049 have retracted their paper after criticism of their data and methodology, revising their analysis to address the issues raised and planning to submit a corrected version for peer review.
A BMJ study claiming stem cell therapy reduces heart failure risk has been scrutinized for serious data inconsistencies, including age mismatches and suspicious data patterns, leading to calls for retraction and raising concerns about research integrity in the field.
A molecular ecology researcher, formerly at CSIRO, lost two papers and received an expression of concern for a third due to data issues related to DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks used to estimate animal ages, leading to retractions and ongoing investigations.