Paper Retraction: The Process and Why It Happens

by Sara Pike

This year, our committee will look at the sham and retracted paper crisis in more depth and share information with the community through this blog. We will begin by providing an overview and information about paper retraction, which is the flagging of a published work in a journal due to a serious issue like data falsification or major errors in the research that are discovered after the publication process is complete.

Discussion in academic circles and in the news about research integrity, paper retractions and falsified research continues to be a major topic and a major source of concern for academia and society at large, as examples of recent articles attest.

“1 in 7 scientific papers is fake, suggests study that author calls ‘wildly nonsystematic’” https://retractionwatch.com/2024/09/24/1-in-7-scientific-papers-is-fake-suggests-study-that-author-calls-wildly-nonsystematic/

“Whistleblowers flagged 300 scientific papers for retraction. Many journals ghosted them” https://www.science.org/content/article/whistleblowers-flagged-300-scientific-papers-for-retraction-many-journals-ghosted-them

Paper retraction goes beyond the correction of mistakes in published papers, and should be considered by either the author(s) or an editorial board if there are ethical concerns related to plagiarism, peer review, unreliable data, unauthorized use of data, copyright infringement, conflicts of interest and the like. https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines

COPE, the Committee on Publication Ethics, provides this and much more information, including formal guidelines for paper retraction that many publishers rely on. If authors become aware of relevant issues with their work, they are strongly encouraged to explore self-retraction of papers by contacting the editorial board of the publication in question. In the months ahead we will explore topics related to paper mills and falsification of research articles as we seek to support scholars and their work.

UMassD Education Professor Surpasses 10,000 Downloads for Globally Accessible Book Published with MIT Press

by Emma Wood

MIT Press launched its Direct to Open (D2O) model in 2021 to make a shift toward Open Access (OA) publishing. The D2O framework is one of many transformative agreements emerging in the publishing world. The idea is to change the role of subscription funds. Libraries have always paid for read access to content, but the focus now is on channeling those funds toward the production of open access books and articles. In the MIT Press agreement, participating libraries contribute a membership fee, and the members support the publication of around 90 new books per year that can be accessed freely by anyone to promote equity and sustainability in scholarly material. As an added incentive, D2O libraries have access to an archive of over 2,500 titles that would otherwise be gated. UMass Dartmouth’s Claire T. Carney Library is currently a member.

When you browse the collection, look for a popular title co-edited by Sheila Macrine, Professor in the Department of Education here at UMass Dartmouth and Jennifer Fugate, Associate Professor of Health Services Psychology (PSYD) at Kansas City University.

Sheila Macrine, PhD

MIT Press announced that they successfully reached their funding goal in 2024, and Macrine’s book was featured as one of nine OA books that have received over ten thousand downloads, and altmetrics (a system of tracking research attention) has seen 264 X posts from 154 X users, with an upper bound of 752,982 followers. The book is called Movement Matters, and according to the MIT Press description it “introduces a new model, translational learning sciences research, for interpreting and disseminating the latest empirical findings in the burgeoning field of embodied cognition. The book provides an up-to-date, inclusive, and essential resource for those involved in educational planning, design, and pedagogical approaches.”

“Movement Matters” is groundbreaking not only because it is available in an open format through a distinguished press, but because it bridges the gap between the latest neuroscience on sensorimotor integration and mirror neurons on teaching pedagogy and learning. Macrine gathered a team of top scholars to translate cutting-edge neuroscience research into practical teaching strategies that will benefit all researchers without barrier to access.

The complete book can be downloaded in PDF format, and it is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Research and Publishing Roundup

Kudos to the following members of our UMass Dartmouth community on their research or publishing accomplishment:

Kevin StokesburyDean of the School for Marine Science & Technologywas featured in an article about a controversial new compensation program for fishermen in Massachusetts who fish within offshore wind farms.

Debra Duarte (SMAST Doctoral Candidate) and Professor Steve Cadrin (Fisheries Oceanography) co-published “Review of methodologies for detecting an observer effect in commercial fisheries data” in Fisheries Research. Based on Duarte’s doctoral dissertation, the article examines the power and error rate of several published methods for detecting an observer effect using a simulation of observer and deployment effects at varying sampling ratios for several sample statistics.

An article written by the College of Nursing & Health Sciences faculty and published in the Journal of Nursing Scholarship ranked in the top 10% of papers downloaded. The article “Perceived stigma, barriers, and facilitators experienced by members of the opioid use disorder community when seeking healthcare” was written by the NO STIGMA team, led by Professor Mary McCurry, and including co-authors Assistant Professor Shannon Avery-DesmaraisAssociate Professor Monika SchulerAssociate Professor Jennifer ViveirosAssistant Professor Mirinda Tyo, and Brianna Kauranen (Psychology MA Candidate). The article focuses on the perceived stigma, barriers, and facilitators faced by members of the opioid disorder community when seeking healthcare.

Professor Chad McGuire (Public Policy) participated in the panel “Rising Seas and How We Adapt.” The panel discussed climate change-induced rising seas and how to adapt to extreme environmental changes.

Professor Brian Williams (History) commented on the interview between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin. Williams provided an analysis of the current state of the Ukraine War and how it could change due to the upcoming American presidential election.

Research Assistant Drake Ssempijja (SMAST Doctoral Candidate) and Professor Pingguo He (Fisheries Oceanography) co-published “Abandoned, lost, and otherwise discarded fishing gear in world’s inland fisheries” in the Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries. The article describes how abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear in inland fisheries remains a highly understudied area of aquatic plastic pollution.

Professor Emeritus James J. Bisagni (Estuarine & Ocean Sciences) recently published “Surface Eddy Kinetic Energy Variability of the Western North Atlantic Slope Sea” in Continental Shelf Research. This work analyzed satellite altimeter-derived changes in eddy kinetic energy to better understand the seasonal and interannual variation of Gulf Stream warm-core rings within the Slope Sea.

Michael S. Cahill (’21) and Associate Professor Nikolay Anguelov (Public Policy) co-published “Hedonic analysis of willingness to pay for dam removal: evidence from Plymouth, Massachusetts” in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. The article investigates how the removal of small dams and subsequent river restoration investments affect residential housing prices in Plymouth. The article is based on Cahill’s capstone project.

Do you need help accessing any of these publications? The librarians have you covered. Contact our reference staff: https://lib.umassd.edu/about/staff-directory/contact-rils/

Enhance Your Academic Writing with Citation Tools

by Kari Mofford

While it would be nice if all the academic leaders in APA, MLA, Chicago…etc. could all get together and create one citation style to rule them all…it probably won’t happen soon.  In the meantime, we do have tools to help us figure out these styles.  While citation generators like Citation Machine are great, they should be checked for accuracy, as it’s not unheard of for them to have typos, issues with capitalization, or other mistakes.  They are just pulling information from fields and their data is only as good as what they harvest.  Check out our Libguide for some good sources on many of the styles.

Another tool that can be very helpful is a Citation Management system. This is a great thing to have if you are gathering multiple citations for your thesis, dissertation, research paper, etc.  Here at the Claire T. Carney Library we support Zotero, which is free!  We have a Libguide on how to download it onto your laptop and lots of information to set up your account.  It makes it very easy to capture your citations, organize them, and create in-text citations and bibliographies.  Like citation generators, you should still double check the citations after they are in Zotero for accuracy, but it’s a great product and invaluable for projects requiring the gathering of many, many citations.  Don’t hesitate to reach out to your librarian to ask for assistance with any citation questions!

 

Research and Publishing Roundup

Here is the latest news in UMD faculty, staff, and community publishing and research:

Professor Chad McGuire (Public Policy) was featured in an article that detailed the impact of rising seas on the SouthCoast and mitigation strategies already in place. McGuire was also featured in an article about the changes in policy impacting coastal decision-making due to climate-induced sea level rise.Assistant Professor Peeranuch LeSeure (Nursing) was featured in the International Family Association’s newsletter, highlighting her research on improving self-care management for diabetic patients among the Portuguese population in Massachusetts. LeSeure is developing a mobile app tailored to this population’s cultural needs and values to support self-care management.Associate Professor Nikolay Anguelov (Public Policy) was featured in a Newsweek article about his research on the number of missing indigenous women in the U.S. and how it relates to the story told in the recently released film Killers of the Flower Moon.Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Kimberly Scott and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Career & Civic Engagement Matt Roy were interviewed on the Chamber of Commerce’s Education Spotlight. The episode focused on UMass Dartmouth’s commitment to students and community.

Professor Brian Glyn Williams (History) was featured in an article that analyzed the many conflicts currently occurring across the globe and the implications of varying levels of U.S. support.

Do you need help accessing any of these publications? The librarians have you covered. Contact our reference staff: https://lib.umassd.edu/about/staff-directory/contact-rils/

Country Statistics and Information

by Lorraine Heffernan

Are you trying to do research on a particular country? You may be interested in their political or economic climate. You may be interested in their history. Or you may be interested in working or building a business there. Government data and statistics are often published in publicly accessible platforms and private companies help to analyze and organize that information. The library has access to up-to-date country reports and can direct you to numerous government sources and others to fill in the picture.

Ebsco’s Business Source Complete (BSC) database is the first stop. Enter the name of your country of interest, select “country report” under Publication Type and then hit Search. You will find monthly risk updates from S&P’s Country Monitor, lengthy analyses from Marketline, single page summaries and more. ProQuest’s ABI/Inform Trade & Industry database also has country reports with 10-year forecasts. Search for Fisk Report (name of country) and you will get reports for the country and reports for that country’s industrial sectors.

If your research is business related, Marketline does industry reports by country that are also found in BSC. You will find reports such as Marketline Industry Profile: Haircare in China or Marketline Industry Profile: Savory Snacks in India. The database IbisWorld also profiles industries for some of our largest trading partners, such as Oil & Gas Extraction in Mexico or Commercial Banks in China.

There are numerous .gov resources available. The first stop should be the State Department (https://www.state.gov/) where you will be given travel risk information and a description of US relations with the country of interest. From here you can link to many other .gov resources including the Commerce Department’s guides. The next stop is the Office of the US Trade Representative (https://ustr.gov/). Then on to the CIA (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/). You can also go directly to the Country Commercial Guides without going through the State Department site (https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides).

For an international perspective, use the OECD (https://www.oecd.org/), the World Bank (https://www.worldbank.org/en/where-we-work) or the United Nations (https://data.un.org/en/index.html).

If you are researching an Emerging Markets nation, get a Boston Public Library eCard and use their database EMIS. “EMIS operates in and reports on countries where high reward goes hand-in-hand with high risk. We bring you time-sensitive, hard-to-get, relevant news, research and analytical data, peer comparisons and more for over 197+ emerging markets.”

And finally, don’t forget to check on the country’s own government agencies and websites. Most have at least some access in English and if you can read the local language can offer great depth of information. Google Ministry of (Finance? Economy? Health? Labor?) (country name) and you will usually find the .gov you are seeking. For example, googling Ministry of Economy Argentina gets you this result: https://www.economia.gob.ar/en/ which has some information in English and offers English speakers help with material only available in Spanish.

Image source: www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-globe-335393/