Software makes it easier for journals to spot image manipulation

The digital age has made it easier to enhance the results of scientific studies, but it is also starting to provide means to counter the trend, delegates at an international seminar on research misconduct heard last week.

Mike Rosner, executive editor of the Journal of Cell Biology, said that “image manipulation” had become part of everyday culture, especially on the internet, and the widespread availability of computer software, such as Photoshop, had made it easy to do.

Dr Rosner was speaking at the annual seminar of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in London, attended by more than 85 scientific …