The Chinese authors of two academic journals on Wednesday apologized for the “mixed up” data in their published papers following a U.S.-based independent researcher raising doubts in an online scientific research forum.
Hou Yujun, one of the authors of a paper on a traditional Chinese medicine formula for the treatment of memory deficits, said she had “inadvertently mixed up” the images showing the results of an experiment conducted on mice, but the “mix-up of the representative image does not affect the conclusion of this experiment.” On Tuesday, U.S.-based researcher Elisabeth Bik had flagged the “very similar” images from the 2014 research published on PLOS One, a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal.
Sun Bing, a corresponding author of another paper flagged by Bik, also apologized for mixing up films that presented incorrect data, adding the team will send a corrigendum to the Journal of Immunology, which published their research.
Pei Gang, who was called out by a high-profile neuroscientist for academic malpractice earlier this month, is one of the corresponding authors for both of the papers flagged by Bik.
Last month, Bik had also raised doubts over “possible image duplications” in academic papers written by prominent Chinese academician Cao Xuetao and his team.
(Image: PubPeer)
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