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March 15, 2006
SCIENTIFIC FRAUD
Researcher Withdraws JACS Papers
Flagship journal of the American Chemical Society may have published results that cannot be reproduced
William G. Schulz
Two research papers have been withdrawn from the Journal of the American Chemical Society because research results were irreproducible, according to notices published in the March 8 issue of JACS (2006, 128, 3102).
Columbia University professor of chemistry Dalibor Sames has withdrawn the papers. He is coauthor along with his former research group member Beng?? Sezen, who was awarded a Ph.D. degree from Columbia in 2005. The journal has published other papers in which Sezen and Sames are coauthors.
Sames was not able to speak with C&EN because the matter is under investigation by Columbia. Sezen could not be reached by C&EN press time.
JACS Editor Peter J. Stang, a professor of chemistry at the University of Utah, says Sames???s retraction of the papers ???is an example of the self-correcting nature of science.??? He notes that it was Sames himself who found that Sezen???s research results could not be reproduced and reported this fact promptly to the journal.
Stang notes that in cases of suspected scientific fraud, journals ???are not equipped to do investigations.??? He says institutions receiving federal research funds are required to investigate such matters through their office of research integrity.
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