Two journal papers retracted over co-author conflicts of interest

An academic publisher has retracted two papers, citing conflicts of interest of a co-author of the papers, who is also the journal’s editor-in-chief.

The path to scholarly reputation lies through multiple publications in specialised journals.

Scholarly articles co-authored by a distinguished Monash University academic have been retracted by the publisher of a journal of which he is editor-in-chief, citing conflict of interest.

One of the papers, co-authored by Monash adjunct associate professor Jun-Ping Liu, was published in Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology in January last year and the other in February this year. Both were retracted last month by the journal’s publisher, John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd.

In the case of the first paper, Molecular insight into the selective binding between human telomere G-quadruplex and a nega­tively charged stabiliser, there was an “undisclosed conflict of interest by the editor-in-chief, Professor Jun-Ping Liu, who accepted this article for publication”, according to the retraction.

In the case of the second, Pulmonary alveolar stem cells undergo senescence, apoptosis and differentiation by p53-dependent and -independent mechanisms in telomerase deficient mice, the publisher said the retraction was due to an undisclosed conflict of interest by Professor Liu, “who oversaw the peer review of this article”. Both papers listed several co-authors and Professor Liu was not the lead author of either.

He is described on the journal’s website as a professor in, and director of, Hangzhou Normal University’s School of Medicine in the Institute of Ageing Research but it also lists him as an adjunct professor at Monash.

On the Monash website, Professor Liu is described as an adjunct associate professor in the department of immunology and a professor in the department from 2012 to 2016. Earlier in his career he was an Australian Research Council Queen Elizabeth II fellow and a National Health and Medical Research Council senior research fellow.

Queensland University of Technology’s Virginia Barber, a former chair of the international body Committee on Publication Ethics, said there were clear guidelines on how editors should manage publication in their own journal.

“A conflict of interest of any kind can be grounds for a retraction of a paper,” said Professor Barbour, who is co-lead in the university’s office for scholarly communication.

CEPP’s guidelines say if authors are from its editorial board “including editor-in-chief, senior editors, associate editors, society editors, editorial board members and advisory board members, they will be excluded from the peer-review process and all editorial decisions related to the publication of this article”.

COPE’s guide to ethical editing warns journal editors that while they should not be “denied the ability to publish in your own journal, you must take extra precautions not to exploit your position or to create an impression of impropriety”.

The Australian has sought comment from Professor Liu and from Wiley.