A statement regarding the mass retraction of Iranian papers in November 2016
This commentary concerns retracted papers published in Tumor Biology in 2016 [1–6] where my name was used as a co-author or the corresponding author without my knowledge or permission1.
Accordingly, the General and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in District 31 of Tehran received my case against Mr. J.J. for identity fraud. After a trial, appeal, and several months of investigations, the court held Mr. J.J. accountable for the forgery of data by creating and using fake email addresses attributed to reputable authors for submission of manuscripts [1–6]. The final verdicts of the Branch no.1040 of Criminal Court 2, Shahid Qodousi Judicial Complex in Tehran and appeal court of Branch no.67 of Tehran Province Court of Appeal were announced under no. 140068390008027479, issued on 05/09/2021, and no. 140168390006910053, issued on 16/08/2022, respectively.2
Disclosure
The author, Dr. Aram Mokarizadeh, takes full responsibility for the content of this letter.
Supplementary material
Court statements may be shared by the Editor-in-Chief or the editorial office of Tumor Biology upon reasonable request and with written consent of Dr. Aram Mokarizadeh.
References
[1] | Sadeghian Y , Kamyabi-Moghaddam Z , Nodushan S M H T , Khoshbakht S , Pedram B , Yahaghi E , et al. Profiles of tissue microRNAs; miR-148b and miR-25 serve as potential prognostic biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma. Tumor Biology. (2016) ;37: (12):16379–16380. doi: 10.1007/s13277-015-3799-y |
[2] | Ebrahimi T , Pirasthe H , Rezakhaniha B , Dormanesh B , Rabati RG , Yahaghi E , et al. The value of U-NGAL expression as a potential prognostic biomarker in patients with renal cancer after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin. Tumor Biology. (2016) ;37: :16377. doi: 10.1007/s13277-015-3680-z |
[3] | Shafiee R , Shariat A , Khalili S , Malayeri HZ , Mokarizadeh A , Anissian A , et al. Diagnostic investigations of canine prostatitis incidence together with benign prostate hyperplasia, prostate malignancies, and biochemical recurrence in high-risk prostate cancer as a model for human study. Tumor Biology. (2016) ;37: :16419. doi: 10.1007/s13277-016-5475-2 |
[4] | Hosseini E , Pedram B , Bahrami AM , Touni SR , Malayeri H Z , Mokarizadeh A , et al. Diagnostic procedures for improving of the KIT (CD117) expressed allele burden for the liver metastases from uterus mast cell tumors: prognostic value of the metastatic pattern and tumor biology. Tumor Biology. (2016) ;37: :16415–16416. doi: 10.1007/s13277-016-5474-3 |
[5] | Yaghoobi Yeganeh Manesh J , Shafiee R , Pedram B , Malayeri H Z , Mohajer S , Ahmadi S , et al. Improving the diagnosis, treatment, and biology patterns of feline mammary intraepithelial lesions: a potential model for human breast masses with evidence from epidemiologic and cytohistopathologic studies. Tumor Biology. (2016) ;37: :16413. doi: 10.1007/s13277-016-5472-5 |
[6] | Ebrahimi A , Tabatabaei Nodushan SMH , Mousavian A , Mokarizadeh A , Abbasi M , Yahaghi E , et al. Diagnostic and prognostic potentials of KLF6 and HER3 expression alterations in cutaneous malignant melanoma. Tumor Biology. (2016) ;37: :16391. doi: 10.1007/s13277-015-4236-y |
[7] | Callaway E . Publisher pulls 58 articles by Iranian scientists over authorship manipulation [Internet]. Nature; 01 November 2016 [updated 03 November 2016]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.20916 |
[8] | Chawla DH . Scientific publisher hacked, affecting 65 papers [Internet]. RetractionWatch; 18 November 2016. Available from: http://retractionwatch.com/2016/11/18/scientific-publisher-hacked-affecting-65-papers/ |
Notes
1 The fraud has been previously reported by [7-8].
2 This information was duly confirmed in investigation by the Editor-in-Chief of Tumor Biology. The company that provided the sworn translation of court statements into English is indeed a registered company. The Iranian Embassy in Warsaw confirmed the presented court statements certified by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and presented to the Editor-in-Chief a summary of the court statements translated from Persian to Polish. The Editor-in-Chief confirmed that the statements are in agreement with Dr. Mokarizadeh’s letter.
