Major publisher retracts 43 papers, alleging fake peer review

BioMed Central, the UK based publisher of 277 medical and scientific journals, has retracted 43 papers “because the peer-review process was inappropriately influenced and compromised,” said a statement in a string of retraction notices published this week.

“As a result,” each notice continues, “the scientific integrity of the article cannot be guaranteed. A systematic and detailed investigation suggests that a third party was involved in supplying fabricated details of potential peer reviewers for a large number of manuscripts submitted to different journals.”

BioMed Central detected a handful of cases last year in which authors had submitted fake names, or real names with fake email addresses, as …