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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 研究倫理ルネッサンス (talk | contribs) at 16:22, 24 March 2022 (Primary sources were replaced by secondary sources whenever possible. However, I will tell you that the primary sources would be more interesting to read.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: Primary sources were replaced with secondary sources. Text was shortened and references were removed where possible. Is it already impossible for me to make this article without going through the afC? Thanks. --研究倫理ルネッサンス (talk) 15:30, 24 March 2022 (UTC)
  • Comment: Building on Siliconred's comments, in this case I believe that less truly is more. Your objective is to produce only sufficient material to get this draft accepted.
    Please consider both slimming this down to the bare essentials, and doing the same with the references.
    Once accepted, assuming it to be acceptable (I offer no opinion on that) it can be built up to whatever eventual state it needs. However, in Main Space it will have the community as a greater entity than a small number of reviewers. The community will keep it on track. FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 17:58, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
  • Comment: Agree with Fiddle's comments, I would suggest significantly reducing the number of citations in this submission. I don't feel comfortable giving a full decline as the article seems close, but some sentences almost feel like they've been WP:CITEBOMB'd. For example: "Fourteen papers in the journals such as Nature magazine, PNAS, EMBO Journal, and so on, have been corrected." This has 14 citations, unless there is a single cite which states this, then this sentence would be considered WP:SYNTHESIS. SiliconRed (he/him) (talk) 16:46, 21 March 2022 (UTC)
  • Comment: I understand your concern. I added some references and explanations. Every message board was covered by another references. --研究倫理ルネッサンス (talk) 17:05, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
  • Comment: Just a general comment, which will be made by anyone that reviews this formally... Anonymous message boards aren't reliable sources. There's more than just message boards being cited, but if a reliable sources covers what the message board says, then use the reliable source. If no reliable source covers what the message board says, it's likely WP:UNDUE. Headbomb {t · c · p · b} 16:39, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
  • Comment: You did. Thank you. Attribution is essential. I've asked for help to review this draft. I feel incapable of doing it FiddleTimtrent FaddleTalk to me 16:35, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

Anonymous A's allegation of massive paper frauds (In Japanese, 匿名Aによる論文大量不正疑義事件) is a Japanese incident that occurred at the beginning of 2015, in which over 80 medical life science papers were alleged in a web site to be research fraud. "Anonymous A" (In Japanese, 匿名A) is the handle by the person who made this allegation.[1] It shocked Japanese academics, including Nobel laureates.

Background

Since around 2000, many cases of scientific fraud were exposed through anonymous Internet postings in Japan,[2][3] and anonymous sites such as 2channel began to attract scientific interest.

Since a 2006 case at Osaka University in which an assistant who accused a professor of fabrication committed suicide,[4] the Molecular Biology Society of Japan was holding an educational meeting on research ethics. However, from the end of 2011 to the beginning of 2012, more than 20 papers by a professor at the University of Tokyo who was in charge of the educational meeting[5] were pointed out 2channel to contain heavily similar images suspected of being fabricated. This anonymous accusation led to his voluntary resignation within a few months.[6][3] Directors of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan apologized for putting him in charge of research ethics.[7]

Shigeru Kondo of Osaka University, who served as the annual president of Molecular Biology Society of Japan in 2013, established the web site "Thinking about Science in Japan." In that, there is a bulletin board "Be more anger at the fabrication issues"[8] and it invited people who have pointed out the paper's fraud on anonymous sites such as 2channel to write in their opinions. In late June 2013, there was a post on a bulletin board under the handle "Anonymous A" declaring that s/he was making accusations on an anonymous website. Based on the exchange on the bulletin board, a three-day symposium on research ethics issues was held at the Molecular Biology Society of Japan at the end of 2013, inviting MEXT officials, editorial staff of Nature and mass media.[9]

In February 2014, a case of research misconduct in the STAP cell paper published in Nature was uncovered.[10] It became a major social event in Japan that graced the top of newspapers and television news repeatedly for more than six months. Yoshiki Sasai, who was one of the authors of the STAP cell paper, committed suicide in August 2014.[11] The first author, Haruko Obokata, voluntarily resigned from RIKEN in December 2014.

On December 26, 2014, the investigation into the aforementioned mass paper fraud case at the University of Tokyo was concluded, and the President of the University of Tokyo disciplined himself and reported the investigation results.[12]

Allegation of massive paper frauds

From the end of 2014 to the beginning of 2015, "Anonymous A" posted on the aforementioned bulletin board "Be more anger at the fabrication issues,"[8] revealing that approximately 80 medical papers published in international journals such as Nature from Japanese research institutions between 1996 and 2008 contained image data suspected of being fabricated. The post by Anonymous A was immediately spread through Japanese web sites,[13][1] and Japanese major newspapers and NHK began reporting from January 9, 2015.[1][14] Minister of MEXT, Hirofumi Shimomura, revealed at a post-cabinet press conference on January 13, 2015 that an anonymous accusation was also made in writing to the MEXT on January 6, 2015.[15]

Osaka University, where the largest number of papers, 28, were identified, conducted a preliminary investigation of 27 papers, excluding one paper for which the corresponding author was the aforementioned professor whose assistant committed suicide, denied suspicion in one paper, determined that seven papers were inadvertently misused, and terminated the investigation for the remaining 19 papers because "the fact of fraud could not be confirmed due to the lack of data."[16] University of Tokyo published a document stating its conclusion only that it had determined that there was no research misconduct.[17] As for Kyushu University, it was reported by the media that the internal investigation was closed with no admission of wrong doing.[18]

On May 19, 2015, a question regarding "Anonymous A" was asked by Junya Ogawa, at the Japanese House of Representatives. In answering the question, MEXT Parliamentary Secretary Tomohiro Yamamoto stated that "64 papers, 17 institutions, 33 researchers" were reported not to be fraudulent and "23 papers, 10 institutions, 16 researchers" were still under investigation.[19] In October of 2016, Mitsuru Sakurai submitted a question to the Chair of the Japanese House of Councillors, pointing out that the University of Tokyo had not revealed any details of its investigation. He also uncovered information that the person in charge of the investigation at the University of Tokyo was a researcher who was close to the accused.[20]

One JBC paper published by Kanazawa University was retracted on September 4, 2015.[21] As of August 2017, fourteen papers in the journals, such as Nature,[22] have been corrected.

Notes

  • In addition to the above-mentioned incident, there have also been incidents on anonymous Japanese bulletin boards where suspicious image data of papers from Japan have been pointed out by a person with the handle "Anonymous A."[23] As of August 23, 2021, a total of 114 papers have been pointed out, and the corresponding authors of the pointed out papers include three Japanese Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine, one of whom was obliged to make an apologetic press conference.[24] As for the papers pointed out outside of "Allegation of massive paper frauds", as of August 2017, five papers in the journals, such as Nature,[25] have been corrected after being pointed out.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Life science papers: "Image fraud" posted online. Osaka University and University of Tokyo to confirm Mainichi Shimbun, Hiroko Saito, January 09, 2015, viewed December 6, 2016 [Japanese]
  2. ^ Normile, Dennis (25 January 2012). "Whistleblower Uses YouTube to Assert Claims of Scientific Misconduct". Science. doi:10.1126/article.27812 (inactive 2022-03-20).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of March 2022 (link)
  3. ^ a b Internet History of Fraud Exposed Katsuo Tanaka, Journal of the Japan Skeptics, No. 24, 4-9 (2015) [Japanese]
  4. ^ Fuyuno, Ichiko; Cyranoski, David (2006-09-01). "Mystery surrounds lab death". Nature. 443 (7109): 253. Bibcode:2006Natur.443..253F. doi:10.1038/443253a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 16988672. S2CID 5300169.
  5. ^ "Interim Report of the University of Tokyo "No Verification or Evaluation" Criticized by Academic Society. [Japanese]". Yomiuri Shimbun web.archive.org. 2013-12-28. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  6. ^ "Forty-Three University of Tokyo Papers Are Tainted, Says Japanese News Report". www.science.org. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
  7. ^ Urgent Forum "Considering Research Misconduct - From the Standpoint of PIs and Young Scientists" Full text record Molecular Biology Society of Japan (2012.12.11) (PDF 330KB) viewed December 6, 2016 [Japanese]
  8. ^ a b Be more anger at the fabrication issues, which discusses the issue of fabrication of papers. Viewed December 6, 2016. Almost all of Anonymous A's approximately 4,000 comments were deleted by the operator in January 2017, but six comments pointing out the questionable 84 papers can be found in "Doctor G 3 のメディカル・ポプリ. Some of the other deleted comments can also be viewed in the following archive: https://archive.is/tDAqj (January 6, 2015 11:59:18 UTC) https://archive.is/UEdyv (January 15, 2015 05:51:11 UTC) https://archive.is/7fBa5 (January 18, 2015 12:59:43 UTC) [Japanese]
  9. ^ 八田, 浩輔 (2013-12-12). "研究不正:自浄期待は「理想論」　日本分子生物学会が防止策を議論". Mainichi Shimbun.
  10. ^ Education, David Mcneill | The Chronicle Of Higher (2014-07-06). "Academic Scandal Shakes Japan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  11. ^ Alvarez-Buylla, Arturo (2014-09-03). "Yoshiki Sasai (1962–2014)". Nature. 513 (7516): 34. Bibcode:2014Natur.513...34A. doi:10.1038/513034a. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 25186892. S2CID 4404562.
  12. ^ "University of Tokyo announces involvement of 11 former professors and others in paper fraud. [Japanese]". NHK web.archive.org. 2014-12-26. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  13. ^ PDF file published in post #407 of the 2channel thread "Fabricated, Fraudulent Papers, General Thread Neo 24 (捏造、不正論文 総合スレネオ 24)" (covering about 90% of the points made by Anonymous A) r3hso.pdf (8MB) published 05 Jan 2015, author unknown, viewed 8 Dec 2016
  14. ^ Preliminary investigation by Osaka University to check for paper fraud NHK February 2, 2015 viewed December 17, 2018 [Japanese]
  15. ^ "東大・阪大の論文に「使い回し」…文科省に告発 [Japanese]". Yomiuri Shimbun. 2015-01-13.
  16. ^ "Osaka University: Paper scandal: 27 preliminary investigations terminated, Mainichi Newspapers [Japanese]". archive.fo. 2015-04-09. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  17. ^ "University of Tokyo: "There is no cheating in the paper" [Japanese]". Asahi Shimbun archive.ph. 2016-01-05. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  18. ^ "Kyushu University: Mistaken Images in Five Papers: "No Misconduct." Mainichi Newspapers [Japanese]". archive.fo. 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2022-03-20.
  19. ^ 189th Session of the Diet, Special Committee on the Promotion of Science, Technology and Innovation, No. 3 House of Representatives, May 19, 2015, viewed December 6, 2016 [Japanese]
  20. ^ 集中出版. "No. 88 "So-Called" Products of Top Companies in the Pharmaceutical Industry". SHUCHU PUBLISHING (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  21. ^ Qin, Weiping; Luo, Hong; Nomura, Takahiro; Hayashi, Naoyuki; Yamashita, Tatsuya; Murakami, Seishi (2015-09-04). "Oligomeric interaction of hepatitis C virus NS5B is critical for catalytic activity of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 290 (36): 22310. doi:10.1074/jbc.A115.106880. ISSN 0021-9258. PMC 5399519. PMID 26341883.
  22. ^ Sakahira, Hideki; Enari, Masato; Nagata, Shigekazu (2015-09-23). "Correction: Corrigendum: Cleavage of CAD inhibitor in CAD activation and DNA degradation during apoptosis". Nature. 526 (7575): 728. doi:10.1038/nature15532. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 26416741. S2CID 4453979.
  23. ^ 匿名A氏がこれまでにネット上で指摘した”類似画像を含む論文” 111報 日本の科学と技術 2016年9月25日 2017年8月25日閲覧 [Japanese]
  24. ^ Landers, Peter (2014-04-28). "Japanese Nobel Winner Latest to Apologize Over Stem-Cell Research". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-03-22.
  25. ^ Zhu, Weidong; Shiojima, Ichiro; Ito, Yuzuru; Li, Zhi; Ikeda, Hiroyuki; Yoshida, Masashi; Naito, Atsuhiko T.; Nishi, Jun-Ichiro; Ueno, Hiroo; Umezawa, Akihiro; Minamino, Tohru; Nagai, Toshio; Kikuchi, Akira; Asashima, Makoto; Komuro, Issei (2014-02-12). "Correction: Corrigendum: IGFBP-4 is an inhibitor of canonical Wnt signalling required for cardiogenesis". Nature. 506 (7487): 254. doi:10.1038/nature13003. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 2033369.

Category:Scientific misconduct Category:Scientific misconduct incidents Category:Japanese academics

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