For @cenmag.bsky.social, I spoke to Mu Yang (@mumumouse2.bsky.social) about her plunge into chemistry research integrity sleuthing:

cen.acs.org/research-int...

Mouse neurobehaviorist by day; research integrity watchdog by night Mu Yang talks about her plunge into chemistry research integrity sleuthing and her unexpected empathy for academic fraudsters

Mu Yang is happy with her gig at Columbia University, where by day she studies mouse neurobehavior. But by night, she turns into a research integrity sleuth, focusing on something entirely unrelated to her discipline: problems with images in chemistry papers.

#chemsky 🧪

For @cenmag.bsky.social, I spoke to Mu Yang (@mumumouse2.bsky.social) about her plunge into chemistry research integrity sleuthing:

cen.acs.org/research-int...

Scientific Journals Need Dedicated Fact-Checkers Opinion | An additional layer of quality control could help academic publishers weed out problematic content before it propagates.

At @undark.org, I argue that scientific journals need dedicated, paid fact-checkers to spot mistakes before they are published:

undark.org/2026/04/09/o...

More than half of all retracted papers are from China, analysis finds Study examined rates and reasons for 46,000 retractions across 10 publishers in Retraction Watch Database

China leads the world in retractions at all 10 of the major publishers examined in the sample from the Retraction Watch Database.

@dalmeet.bsky.social @retractionwatch.com
www.chemistryworld.com/news/more-th...

Chemist Brett Pollard and colleagues found roughly 20 papers citing water safety standards attributed to the WHO and EPA that, according to the researchers, those agencies never produced.

Offering scientists cash to spot errors in published papers doesn’t work The ERROR project tried enticing reviewers with payments. Now, it’s launching a journal—and promising papers as rewards

The ERROR project recruits independent experts to recheck social sciences papers’ data, statistics, methodology, code; now the project plans to publish the reviews in a new peer-reviewed journal.
science.org/content/arti...
@dalmeet.bsky.social @science.org
#reproducibility

Scientific Journals Need Dedicated Fact-Checkers Opinion | An additional layer of quality control could help academic publishers weed out problematic content before it propagates.

At @undark.org, I argue that scientific journals need dedicated, paid fact-checkers to spot mistakes before they are published:

undark.org/2026/04/09/o...

Offering scientists cash to spot errors in published papers doesn’t work The ERROR project tried enticing reviewers with payments. Now it’s launching a journal—and promising papers as rewards

A project offering researchers up to 3,500 Swiss francs for finding errors in published academic papers is having trouble finding people to do the work.

My latest for @science.org:

www.science.org/content/arti...

@erichehman.bsky.social, @malte.the100.ci, @ruben.the100.ci, @conjugateprior.org

Offering scientists cash to spot errors in published papers doesn’t work The ERROR project tried enticing reviewers with payments. Now it’s launching a journal—and promising papers as rewards

A project offering researchers up to 3,500 Swiss francs for finding errors in published academic papers is having trouble finding people to do the work.

My latest for @science.org:

www.science.org/content/arti...

@erichehman.bsky.social, @malte.the100.ci, @ruben.the100.ci, @conjugateprior.org

More than half of all retracted papers are from China, analysis finds Study examined rates and reasons for 46,000 retractions across 10 publishers in Retraction Watch Database

More than half of all retracted papers list academic institutions in China — my latest for @chemistryworld.com:

www.chemistryworld.com/news/more-th...

@malte.the100.ci

More than half of all retracted papers are from China, analysis finds Study examined rates and reasons for 46,000 retractions across 10 publishers in Retraction Watch Database

‘Most people who study retraction think that there’s not enough retraction.

‘The real story is we have to make it easier to retract,’ information scientist Jodie Schneider tells @dalmeet.bsky.social

www.chemistryworld.com/news/more-th...

More than half of all retracted papers are from China, analysis finds Study examined rates and reasons for 46,000 retractions across 10 publishers in Retraction Watch Database

More than half of all retracted papers list academic institutions in China — my latest for @chemistryworld.com:

www.chemistryworld.com/news/more-th...

@malte.the100.ci

Neuroscience conference policy draws confusion, apology NeurIPS organizers apologized and altered course after issuing a policy that barred submissions from researchers at U.S.-government-sanctioned institutions.

.@neuripsconf.bsky.social organizers have apologized and altered course after issuing a policy that barred submissions from researchers at U.S.-government-sanctioned institutions — my latest for @thetransmitter.bsky.social:

www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...

@tonyzador.bsky.social

Neuroscience conference policy draws confusion, apology NeurIPS organizers apologized and altered course after issuing a policy that barred submissions from researchers at U.S.-government-sanctioned institutions.

Reported here: www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...

Neuroscience conference policy draws confusion, apology NeurIPS organizers apologized and altered course after issuing a policy that barred submissions from researchers at U.S.-government-sanctioned institutions.

Organizers of a leading neuroscience conference are trying to allay concerns after a policy that bars submissions from researchers based at institutions sanctioned by the United States government attracted intense scrutiny online.

By @dalmeet.bsky.social

www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...

Neuroscience conference policy draws confusion, apology NeurIPS organizers apologized and altered course after issuing a policy that barred submissions from researchers at U.S.-government-sanctioned institutions.

.@neuripsconf.bsky.social organizers have apologized and altered course after issuing a policy that barred submissions from researchers at U.S.-government-sanctioned institutions — my latest for @thetransmitter.bsky.social:

www.thetransmitter.org/science-and-...

@tonyzador.bsky.social

No matter how often an algorithm showed you the ruins of Gaza, “nothing can prepare you for entering into a landscape like that,” says Elise Thorburn, a Canadian ER doctor who arrived two weeks into the supposed ceasefire. What she saw as she took the coastal al-Rashid Road north did not “resemble a human habitat in any way.” Silence from the collapsed buildings and shattered roads gave way to masses of displaced people living in plastic tents or the remains of structurally unsound buildings. “Not one building,” Thorburn says, “is unaffected.” Concrete dust, suspended in the air from the estimated 68 million tons of debris, makes it feel “hazy all the time,” she adds. Ahmed paid attention with alarm to what Gazans breathe in. Her experience treating patients with COPD from the World Trade Center leads her to forecast that the effects of the genocide will remain in the lungs of its survivors for decades.

What you’ve seen on your phone cannot prepare you for the nightmarish reality.

Just seen my secondary royalties statement from @alcs.co.uk for this year.

Scientists/Writers/Journalists: Sign up to become ALCS members to receive royalties if you are publishing articles in journals/magazines run out of the UK that have ISSNs.

Sign for ALCS here: www.alcs.co.uk/join-alcs/ho...

I’ll let @mcintold.bsky.social answer this if that’s OK.

Scientific sleuths come in from the cold. Research integrity investigators are starting to organize, but the field, and the people, remain idiosyncratic. by Dalmeet Singh Chawla. An illustration of a person wearing a lab coat and holding a flashlight descending stairs that are cut into a stack of research papers.

The publishing of subpar or bogus academic papers is on the rise. Increasing numbers of sleuths are dedicated to exposing this fraud. Some sleuths want to organize, while others prize their independence. Read more: cen.acs.org/research-int...

#chemsky 🧪

Scientific sleuths come in from the cold Research integrity investigators are starting to organize, but the field, and the people, remain idiosyncratic

Research sleuths are starting to organize, but the field, and the people, remain idiosyncratic — my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social:

cen.acs.org/research-int...

@mcintold.bsky.social, @reeserichardson.bsky.social, @elisabethbik.bsky.social, @sholtodavid.bsky.social,
@eugenie-reich.bsky.social

Scientific sleuths come in from the cold Research integrity investigators are starting to organize, but the field, and the people, remain idiosyncratic

Research sleuths are starting to organize, but the field, and the people, remain idiosyncratic — my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social:

cen.acs.org/research-int...

@mcintold.bsky.social, @reeserichardson.bsky.social, @elisabethbik.bsky.social, @sholtodavid.bsky.social,
@eugenie-reich.bsky.social

Stolen economics study retracted following Retraction Watch coverage An economics study that was stolen and had its authorship slots sold by a paper mill has been retracted.  The move follows our reporting in January about a researcher in India who took to soci…

A researcher told us at the time that a post he found on Telegram offered authorship slots on S’s study for less than $200 apiece.

Chemist has 35 papers retracted within 2 years. Achievement puts Hitler Louis on Retraction Watch’s leaderboard. by Dalmeet Singh Chawla, special to C&EN. An illustration on a red background that includes the word “retracted” stamped on top of a hand that is writing on graph paper.

A chemistry researcher has had 35 of his papers retracted within 24 months for a variety of reasons, including fundamental errors in chemical analyses, compromised peer review, image-related problems, and citation manipulation. cen.acs.org/research-int...

#chemsky 🧪

Chemist Hitler Louis has had 35 of his studies retracted within the last 24 months — my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social:

cen.acs.org/research-int...

Chemist Hitler Louis has had 35 of his studies retracted within the last 24 months — my latest for @cenmag.bsky.social:

cen.acs.org/research-int...

Preprint server removes study attributing increased infant mortality to vaccines Alachua County/Flickr A preprint server has withdrawn a study that suggested children vaccinated in the second month of life are more likely to die soon after when compared to those who did not rec…

A preprint server has withdrawn a Children's Health Defense study that suggested children vaccinated in the second month of life are more likely to die soon after when compared to those who did not receive the vaccinations.

Preprint server removes study attributing increased infant mortality to vaccines Alachua County/Flickr A preprint server has withdrawn a study that suggested children vaccinated in the second month of life are more likely to die soon after when compared to those who did not rec…

My latest for @retractionwatch.com:

retractionwatch.com/2026/03/02/p...

Weekend reads: Institute to stop paying fees for some OA journals; sleuths’ tips for spotting fraud; Bayer sues J&J over ‘false and misleading claims’ If your week flew by — we know ours did — catch up here with what you might have missed. The week at Retraction Watch featured: Journal retracts GLP-1 study after researcher questions central findi…

Weekend reads: Institute to stop paying fees for some OA journals; sleuths’ tips for spotting fraud; Bayer sues J&J over ‘false and misleading claims’