After misconduct claims, star botanist has second paper retracted

Steven Newmaster, a prominent University of Guelph (UG) botanist and entrepreneur who has faced allegations of scientific misconduct, has had another paper retracted without his consent. Last week the Canadian Journal of Forest Research pulled a study in which Newmaster and colleagues said they used a genetic identification system known as DNA barcoding to help determine the diet of woodland caribou. The retraction follows a misconduct complaint by one of the paper’s co-authors and others that cast doubt on the reliability of the data supplied by Newmaster, the lead author. “Post-publication peer review found that study methods are not described in enough detail to enable reproducibility, nor were enough data provided in the article or public databases to verify the findings,” the journal said in its retraction notice. “Therefore, the Editors-in-Chief no longer have confidence in the validity of the DNA results.” The journal noted that six co-authors agreed with the decision and one could not be reached. Only Newmaster disagreed, the journal added. ( Science reached out to Newmaster and other authors on the caribou paper but none has so far responded.) Newmaster gained widespread media attention after a 2013 paper in which he and colleagues in BMC Medicine said major suppliers of nutritional supplements sold products improperly larded with fillers and sometimes tainted with toxic contaminants. Test...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news