Signs of data fraud found in dozens of scientific papers from Harvard Cancer Center

A branch of Harvard Medical School, the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, is retracting 6 scientific papers and asking for changes to be made to another 31 publications of its scientists due to suspicions of plagiarism and data manipulation, reports The Wall Street Journal. Some of these works were signed by four leaders and senior researchers of the center. In total, more than 50 scientific papers are being reviewed.

The reason for the inspection was article British molecular biologist Sholto David, published on January 2. In it, he cited several examples of images in scientific papers by the center’s scientists being stretched out, darkened, or stitched together in ways that suggested deliberate attempts to mislead readers. The authors of the studies flagged by Dr. David included the center’s CEO, Dr. Laurie Glimcher, and its executive director, Dr. William Hahn.

The center itself noted that they began sending notifications to scientific publications about the need for adjustments in some articles even before Dr. David published his post. However, Dana-Farber noted that the institute has yet to determine whether there was misconduct on the part of the authors of the articles.

This is the second major plagiarism scandal to hit Harvard in the last couple of months. In early January, Harvard University President Claudine Gay was forced to retire due to allegations of plagiarism found in her doctoral dissertation and anti-Semitism.

Kirill Sarkhanyants