Journal will not retract influential paper by botanist accused of plagiarism and fraud

The journal BMC Medicine has decided not to retract a controversial 2013 paper by botanist Steven Newmaster of the University of Guelph (UG) that questioned the purity of herbal remedies and had far-reaching effects on the nutritional supplement industry. An earlier UG investigation had cleared Newmaster of misconduct. “Following [the] investigation … the Editor has concluded that no further editorial action is needed at this point,” a 9 September Editor’s Note on the journal’s website says. But BMC Medicine retained a note posted in February alerting readers that doubts had arisen about the reliability of the paper’s data. “We still believe that the BMC Medicine paper is fraudulent,” says Ken Thompson, a Stanford University postdoctoral fellow who first blew the whistle on Newmaster’s work and signed a 2021 complaint that alleged he committed scientific misconduct. “We plan to place our full set of concerns into the public domain soon,” Thompson says. He and fellow critics fault not just the journal, but also what they see as a cover-up by the university. Newmaster did not respond to a request for comment today. In the BMC Medicine article, Newmaster and colleagues reported using a technique called DNA barcoding to verify the contents of popular supplements. They found that many contained inert fillers and contaminants, including toxic substances. The work eventually led major sto...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news