World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology 10, 9
Statement from the Editor
Retraction of an article
The Editor's attention has been drawn to a publication that appeared recently in this Journal, 1992, 8, 42-44; "~-Glucosidase synthesis in batch and continuous culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae" by G. Ramesh, M.S. Deshpande, S.B. Maggiwar, M.V. Hegde and V.B. Rale, all from the University of Poona, Pune, India. Professor V.B. Rale was the senior and corresponding author and, with G. Ramesh and Dr M.S. Deshpande, was from the Department of Microbiology; the other two authors were from the Department of Chemistry. The allegation was made that this paper was remarkably similar to one published by M.H. Haggstrom and C.L. Cooney (Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) entitled "a-Glucosidase synthesis in batch and continuous culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae" published in Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 1984, 9, 475-481. An inspection of the two papers showed that not only were substantial parts of the text the same or similar but also a table of data was the same in each case, two of the four figures were exactly the same, the other two showed the same plots of data, though the scale of one parameter in each case had been changed. When the original manuscript of Ramesh et al. was compared with the published paper of Haggstrom and Cooney, whole sections of the latter were found to have been copied; this included most of the Introduction, the whole of the Results section and all of the Discussion. Values for experimental results
quoted in the texts were identical, not similar. The conclusion was inescapable that the paper that this Journal had published had been copied from the earlier publication. The Editors and Publishers of this Journal therefore apologize unreservedly for their unwitting part in this act of plagiarism to Dr Margareta Haggstrom and to Professor Charles Cooney and also to The Humana Press Inc., the publishers of the original paper, for the unintentional breach of their copyright. The Editor has been in correspondence with Professor V.B. Rale and also Ms Getta Ramesh from whose Ph.D. studies this paper had been written. Full and unconditional apologies have been received from both parties admitting the case of plagiarism and accepting full responsibility for the fraudulent use of previously published work. Their apologies, and explanation, have also been made to Professor Cooney who has graciously accepted them. The Editors and Publishers apologize unreservedly to all concerned, including readers of this Journal, for this episode and regret the inconvenience that this has caused. The above-mentioned paper of G. Ramesh et al. is therefore withdrawn and, as far as it may be possible, should not be referred to in any future publication of this or any other Journal. Colin Ratledge
Editor-in-Chief
World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology, Vat 10, 1994
9
Statement from the Editor
Retraction of an article
The Editor's attention has been drawn to a publication that appeared recently in this Journal, 1992, 8, 42-44; "~-Glucosidase synthesis in batch and continuous culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae" by G. Ramesh, M.S. Deshpande, S.B. Maggiwar, M.V. Hegde and V.B. Rale, all from the University of Poona, Pune, India. Professor V.B. Rale was the senior and corresponding author and, with G. Ramesh and Dr M.S. Deshpande, was from the Department of Microbiology; the other two authors were from the Department of Chemistry. The allegation was made that this paper was remarkably similar to one published by M.H. Haggstrom and C.L. Cooney (Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) entitled "a-Glucosidase synthesis in batch and continuous culture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae" published in Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 1984, 9, 475-481. An inspection of the two papers showed that not only were substantial parts of the text the same or similar but also a table of data was the same in each case, two of the four figures were exactly the same, the other two showed the same plots of data, though the scale of one parameter in each case had been changed. When the original manuscript of Ramesh et al. was compared with the published paper of Haggstrom and Cooney, whole sections of the latter were found to have been copied; this included most of the Introduction, the whole of the Results section and all of the Discussion. Values for experimental results
quoted in the texts were identical, not similar. The conclusion was inescapable that the paper that this Journal had published had been copied from the earlier publication. The Editors and Publishers of this Journal therefore apologize unreservedly for their unwitting part in this act of plagiarism to Dr Margareta Haggstrom and to Professor Charles Cooney and also to The Humana Press Inc., the publishers of the original paper, for the unintentional breach of their copyright. The Editor has been in correspondence with Professor V.B. Rale and also Ms Getta Ramesh from whose Ph.D. studies this paper had been written. Full and unconditional apologies have been received from both parties admitting the case of plagiarism and accepting full responsibility for the fraudulent use of previously published work. Their apologies, and explanation, have also been made to Professor Cooney who has graciously accepted them. The Editors and Publishers apologize unreservedly to all concerned, including readers of this Journal, for this episode and regret the inconvenience that this has caused. The above-mentioned paper of G. Ramesh et al. is therefore withdrawn and, as far as it may be possible, should not be referred to in any future publication of this or any other Journal. Colin Ratledge
Editor-in-Chief
World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology, Vat 10, 1994
9
