Taiwan researchers retract report in global journal
Source: Reuters
By Ralph Jennings TAIPEI, Jan 2 (Reuters) - A Taiwan research team has formally retracted its microbiology article published in a leading global journal on biological research because of inflated figures, an official from the university in charge said on Tuesday. The retraction follows a similar, higher profile scandal involving stem-cell research in South Korea and threatens to soil Taiwan's reputation for scientific study. A National Chung Hsing University doctoral degree holder last month asked Cell, a U.S.-based journal, to withdraw an October article based on his research challenging common notions about bacteria and DNA, said Yeh Shyi-dong, vice chancellor of the university. Such discoveries can carry over to medical research. The four-person team, which was based at the university in the city of Taichung at the time of its research, inflated numbers on illustrations with the article, Yeh said. "Of course this will affect us -- it's not a good thing," Yeh said. "But if it's something we need to handle, then we'll handle it." The retraction comes nearly a year after Seoul National University fired South Korean stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk for fabricating landmark research papers on stem cell research. National Chung Hsing University, home to one of Taiwan's oldest life sciences schools, formed an investigative committee with scholars from another Taiwan university when mainland Chinese scholars began to suspect flaws in the research following questions raised on a Chinese Internet site, Yeh said. In a separate investigation, the university is checking the overall accuracy of the research team's findings, Yeh said.+ The lead researcher, Yang Ban-chang, would be stripped of his degree if the university finds over the next couple of months that his basic discoveries were false, Yeh said. Yang has already graduated and is now doing military service, he said.
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