Dino extinction researcher committed research misconduct —but not fraud, university report finds

Paleontologist Robert DePalma, whose claim that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs struck in springtime drew accusations of fraud, is guilty of “several counts of poor research practice” that “constitute research misconduct,” according to an investigation. The report by the University of Manchester, which it shared with Science , says DePalma did not fabricate data, but notes he was unable to say where the key isotope data underlying his 2021 paper in Scientific Reports were produced. “I’m happy the university acknowledged poor research practices [and] misconduct,” says paleontologist and Ph.D. student Melanie During. “That’s a big win.” She and her adviser, paleontologist Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University, had filed the fraud complaint, and she continues to think Scientific Reports should retract DePalma’s paper. “Nonscientific information has been published as scientific information, and it is still out there,” she says. DePalma emphasizes the university, where he is now a Ph.D. student, cleared him of fabricating data. He says that what he calls errors in “record-keeping and data presentation … collectively were labeled as a form of misconduct of a negligent sense, which is fuel for self-improvement and positive adjustment.” A representative for Springer Nature Group, which publishes Scientific Reports , told Science they were “considering our next steps.” T...
Source: ScienceNOW - Category: Science Source Type: news