DURHAM, N.C., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Curt I. Civin, editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed scientific journal STEM CELLS(R), published last December an “Expression of Concern” about an article that was discovered to contain questionable, and possibly fraudulent, information. The Journal’s editors herewith formally retract this paper entitled, “Effects of Type IV Collagen and Laminin on the Cryopreservation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells,” co-authored by Sun Jong Kim and eight other South Korean researchers, originally published in 2004 (STEM CELLS 2004;22:950-961).
The Journal’s senior editors have assessed information derived during a scientific inquiry of fraud conducted by Seoul National University, among other institutions, and have concluded that the paper in question does not “rise to a reasonable standard of credibility,” according to Dr. Civin. “In particular, the multiple internally duplicated photomicrographs that appeared in the STEM CELLS publication and those that were also duplicated in other papers from some of the same authors are, at best, a graphic indication of unacceptable scientific record keeping and reporting; or, at worst, fraudulent.”
Taken in the context of the Seoul investigation, which found that deliberate fraud was committed by some of these same authors in two papers published in the journal SCIENCE, the editors conclude that this paper strained scientific credibility. The editors requested an investigation by MizMedi Hospital, Seoul, South Korea, where the research was conducted and from which the original manuscript was submitted. No such investigation occurred, now further thwarted by ongoing investigations by the South Korean Prosecutor’s office.
Although more may be learned in the course of additional investigations, the STEM CELLS senior editors decided to editorially retract the paper by Kim, et al. “We cannot conceive of learning anything further that would convince us, with any degree of confidence, to maintain the paper’s data and interpretations in the scientific literature as presumptively authentic,” says Dr. Civin.
In the twenty-four year history of this international, peer-reviewed scientific journal, this is the first editorial retraction by STEM CELLS.
See: STEM CELLS “Expression of Concern” by Curt I. Civin, M.D., and a statement of the editorial retraction at http://stemcells.alphamedpress.org/misc/editors.shtml.
Website: http://www.StemCells.com FROM: STEM CELLS(R), published by AlphaMed Press, Durham, North Carolina CONTACT: Dr. Martin J. Murphy, Executive Editor Email: Martin.Murphy@StemCells.com Tel.: +919-680-0011 Fax: +919-680-4411
STEM CELLS
CONTACT: Dr. Martin J. Murphy, Executive Editor of STEM CELLS,+1-919-680-0011, or fax: +1-919-680-4411, Martin.Murphy@StemCells.com
