Smart animals: spider social studies retractions (Animals)

by David Turell , Sunday, February 09, 2020, 16:47 (1535 days ago) @ David Turell

What is described in teh preceding entry may not be true:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00287-y

"A complex web is unravelling in the field of spider research. On 5 February, McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, confirmed that it was investigating allegations that behavioural ecologist Jonathan Pruitt fabricated data in at least 17 papers on which he was a co-author.

"Since concerns about his work became public in late January, scientists have rushed to uncover the extent of questionable data in Pruitt’s studies. Publishers are now trying to keep up with requests for retractions and investigations. According to a publicly available spreadsheet maintained by Daniel Bolnick, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, seven papers have been retracted or are in the process of being retracted; five further retractions have been requested by Pruitt’s co-authors; and researchers have flagged at least five more studies as containing possible data anomalies.

***

"Laskowski and Pinter-Wollman say that although the wave of retractions deals a blow to behavioural ecology, they are heartened by how quickly the community has acted to set the scientific record straight. They acknowledge that researchers have lessons to learn about making data publicly available — by one estimate, more than 60% of Pruitt’s data-containing papers are in journals with no data-sharing requirements — and about carefully checking data that they receive from colleagues. But they are both optimistic that these lessons will ultimately strengthen the field.

“'Despite all I’ve gone through, I’m going to continue to trust collaborators,” Pinter-Wollman says. “It’s hard to grow in a vacuum.'”

Comment: Research scientists make their living by getting grants. Self-aggrandizement is a human tendency and fraudulent study results are not uncommon. Always check to see if the required confirmatory studies are available, before accepting conclusions.