A graduate student at the University of Oregon has admitted to faking the data behind four scientific papers, the blog Retraction Watch reports. David E. Anderson told the blog he had made an “error in judgment” in falsifying the data.
His former supervisor, the brain researcher Edward Awh, who now works at the University of Chicago, has requested that the papers be retracted.
“I take full responsibility for my actions, as they do not reflect the integrity of research conducted in the lab of Dr. Edward Awh or by the department of psychology at the University of Oregon,” Mr. Anderson told Retraction Watch.
According to the U.S. Office of Research Integrity, Mr. Anderson “knowingly falsified data by removing outlier values or replacing outliers with mean values to produce results that conform to predictions.”
Brad Shelton, Oregon’s interim vice president for research and innovation, told The Oregonian that this was an “isolated incident.”
Earlier this year, Mr. Anderson and Mr. Awh retracted another study because of an error. That retraction was unrelated to Mr. Anderson’s falsification in the four papers, he told the blog.
The papers at issue were published in The Journal of Neuroscience; Psychological Science; Attention, Perception & Psychophysics; and the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
The university would not confirm to Retraction Watch whether Mr. Anderson was still a graduate student there.
