2019年8月28日,哈佛大學三位華人學者(標註為共同第一作者)的大作剛剛發表,1天后即被質疑圖片有問題。
經查詢,上述Nature和JBC兩篇論文均被撤稿了,三位華人第一作者也均已離開通訊作者Xu Wu(吳旭)哈佛大學實驗室,不知所往。
然而,令人驚訝的是:撤稿通知中作者回復無法找到相關原始資料(論文2019年8月底才發表),但仍堅稱論文的關鍵結果真實有效且可重複。
大家對於這樣的表述是不是感覺特別熟悉?
撤稿通知:
Nature論文:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2414-6
We, the authors, are retracting this Letter owing to anomalies in Figs. 2j, 3a and 3d. We and the Nature editors reviewed the data and found that these anomalies were present in the digital scans of the original western blot films, which could not be located for further examination. Although repeat experiments at the time of writing the paper have reproduced the data, the anomalies undermine confidence in the published Letter. We therefore believe that the most appropriate course of action is to retract this Letter in its entirety. We thank the readers who brought the issues to our attention, and apologize to the scientific community. We remain confident that the key findings of the Letter are valid and reproducible. All authors agree with the Retraction.
JBC論文:https://www.jbc.org/content/294/47/18015.long