research misconduct news article

Biz & IT

Top Harvard cancer researchers accused of scientific fraud; 37 studies affected

Researchers accused of manipulating data images with copy-and-paste.

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is seeking to retract six scientific studies and correct 31 others that were published by the institute’s top researchers, including its CEO. The researchers are accused of manipulating data images with simple methods, primarily with copy-and-paste in image editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop.

The accusations come from data sleuth Sholto David and colleagues on PubPeer, an online forum for researchers to discuss publications that has frequently served to spot dubious research and potential fraud. On January 2, David posted on his research integrity blog, For Better Science, a long list of potential data manipulation from DFCI researchers . The post highlighted many data figures that appear to contain pixel-for-pixel duplications. The allegedly manipulated images are of data such as Western blots, which are used to detect and visualize the presence of proteins in a complex mixture.

DFCI Research Integrity Officer Barrett Rollins told The Harvard Crimson that David had contacted DFCI with allegations of data manipulation in 57 DFCI-led studies. Rollins said that the institute is "committed to a culture of accountability and integrity," and that "every inquiry about research integrity is examined fully."

The allegations are against: DFCI President and CEO Laurie Glimcher, Executive Vice President and COO William Hahn, Senior Vice President for Experimental Medicine Irene Ghobrial, and Harvard Medical School professor Kenneth Anderson.

The Wall Street Journal noted that Rollins, the integrity officer, is also a co-author on two of the studies. He told the outlet he is recused from decisions involving those studies.

Amid the institute's internal review, Rollins said the institute identified 38 studies in which DFCI researchers are primarily responsible for potential manipulation. The institute is seeking retraction of six studies and is contacting scientific publishers to correct 31 others, totaling 37 studies. The one remaining study of the 38 is still being reviewed.

Of the remaining 19 studies identified by David, three were cleared of manipulation allegations, and 16 were determined to have had the data in question collected at labs outside of DFCI. Those studies are still under investigation, Rollins told The Harvard Crimson. "Where possible, the heads of all of the other laboratories have been contacted and we will work with them to see that they correct the literature as warranted,” Rollins wrote in a statement.

Despite finding false data and manipulated images, Rollins pressed that it doesn't necessarily mean that scientific misconduct occurred, and the institute has not yet made such a determination. The "presence of image discrepancies in a paper is not evidence of an author's intent to deceive," Rollins wrote. "That conclusion can only be drawn after a careful, fact-based examination which is an integral part of our response. Our experience is that errors are often unintentional and do not rise to the level of misconduct."

The very simple methods used to manipulate the DFCI data are remarkably common among falsified scientific studies, however. Data sleuths have gotten better and better at spotting such lazy manipulations, including copied-and-pasted duplicates that are sometimes rotated and adjusted for size, brightness, and contrast. As Ars recently reported, all journals from the publisher Science now use an AI-powered tool to spot just this kind of image recycling because it is so common.

Listing image: Getty | Craig F. Walker

2. Silo S2 expands its dystopian world
3. These are the lasting things that Half-Life 2 gave us, besides headcrabs and crowbars
4. FTC to launch investigation into Microsoft’s cloud business
5. A lot of people are mistaking Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites for UAPs

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

View all journals
Explore content
About the journal
Publish with us
Sign up for alerts
NEWS FEATURE
20 July 2022

Exclusive: investigators found plagiarism and data falsification in work from prominent cancer lab

Richard Van Noorden

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Over the past decade, questions have swirled around the work coming out of a prominent US cancer-research laboratory run by Carlo Croce at the Ohio State University (OSU). Croce, a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, made his name with his work on the role of genes in cancer. But for years, he has faced allegations of plagiarism and falsified images in studies from his group. All told, 11 papers he has co-authored have been retracted, and 21 have required corrections.

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

24,99 € / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

185,98 € per year

only 3,65 € per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 607 , 650-652 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02002-5

PLoS ONE Editors. PLoS ONE 17 , e0267621 (2022).

Article PubMed Google Scholar

Download references

Reprints and permissions

Supplementary Information

OSU report from committee investigating Flavia Pichiorri
OSU report from committee investigating Michela Garofalo

Research data

Major biomedical funder NIH poised for massive reform under Trump 2.0

News 15 NOV 24

Postdocs count the cost of living in Ireland’s capital

Career News 13 NOV 24

Why it’s in rich nations’ interests to fund climate finance

World View 13 NOV 24

Ignoring journal metrics on CVs is an act of privilege

Correspondence 12 NOV 24

South Korea can boost the research potential of low-income countries

Nature Index 12 NOV 24

Is there a ‘Goldilocks zone’ for paper length?

Nature Index 05 NOV 24

Why we are all lab rats in the digital world

World View 12 NOV 24

This scientist treated her own cancer with viruses she grew in the lab

News 08 NOV 24

Will South Africa become first country to accept controversial form of human genome editing?

News 07 NOV 24

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor

Tenure-track Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology.

Los Angeles, California

University of Southern California Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology

Research Professor - Roche Chair in Precision Medicine and Genomics in Africa

Opportunity for a mid-career investigator to advance their career as an international leader in the fields of precision medicine & genomics in Africa.

Wits Health Precinct in tree-rich Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa

Wits University