Sholto David

Schneider Shorts 13.02.2026 – Prize for Academic Integrity (Europe category) Schneider Shorts 13.02.2026 – a Finnish nightmare for a Spanish scholar, a Portuguese Vice-Rector in trouble, a cure for cancer from US government, with a role model for women in German medic…

Schneider Shorts 13.02.2026 – Prize for Academic Integrity (Europe category)
forbetterscience.com/2026/02/13/s...

I want to be author of a paper about cancer biomarkers.
You're in luck! We're running a 1/2-price special on processed-alloy papers!
What good is that! I'm an oncologist, not a metallurgist.
We'll tie a sign to it that says 'cancer'. Do you want the text or not?
OK then.

pubpeer.com/publications...

Woohoo! #SuperBowl flyover over our city.

Please admire what 'Viola sheltonii' found in Discover Oncology, in "Engineering CAR T NK and NKT cell therapies to target cancer stem cells and overcome stem like resistance".
pubpeer.com/publications...

Left: Original Figure 10, containing panels from 2 groups (A and B, in 2 columns) and 6 different organs (in 6 rows, heart, liver, spleen, stomach, lung, kidney). I have added colored boxes to highlight that several panels in the original appear to contain duplicated (photoshopped?) areas. Right: Figure in the same orientation as on the left, but all panels now look different. Still, two sets overlap

I know that @frontiersin.bsky.social are trying hard to be taken seriously.

But addressing the problems in the original figure (left) by a completely new set of panels (that also have problems; right) puts them straight back into predatory journal range.

#ImageForensics
#ScientificPublishing
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For once, I was writing on PubPeer about my own subject and still ignored 😉 The kit is the wrong choice for detecting autoantibodies. The data presented with that ELISA is meaningless. Tells you something about the competency of those involved.

Former Stanford professor Nathan Wolfe ’92 planned sexual behavior research, described interns with Epstein The Daily investigated correspondence between virologist Nathan Wolfe ’92 and Epstein in which the two men discussed interns’ attractiveness, “female viagra” and sexual research projects.

Student journalists at Stanford the first to break a story that’s long overdue stanforddaily.com/2026/02/03/f...

Attorney: Dana-Farber’s $15M Settlement Shows Failure of Integrity Oversight, More Suits Coming | JD Supra Two years after an online sleuth put together a damning collection of papers by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers containing what he suspected...

Good article by Theresa DeFino capturing my thoughts on how failure to address research integrity failures today accumulates problems for tomorrow. Each scientist or administrator involved in such a mess has autonomy to facilitate or resist that.

Yes I've had several silly discussions along these lines including one letter that was sent for "peer review" by the author that I was criticising (my letter was rejected). I no longer consider these activities productive and write on PubPeer 🤷

Research!

Figure 5. Sudden quarrelling of spouse due to misuse of wireless sensor technology: doi.org/10.5539/jpl....

Following my blog about former Yale Researcher Wang Min, Nature Communications retracted a paper of his today: forbetterscience.com/2025/04/30/y...

Another retraction today for Sam S Yoon. Still currently Chief, Division of Surgical Oncology at Columbia, having lost many of the papers that came out of his lab to retractions for an epic fraud. Not clear what the consequences were apart from the retractions: forbetterscience.com/2023/11/01/m...

1. I now summarized problems of a paper on ketamine on PubPeer and also contacted the editor after contacting the author who didn't respond.
I also checked some other papers from authors and indeed found another suspicious one quickly. Thoughts? ->
pubpeer.com/publications...

The publishers of Frontiers are very proud of their fraud-detection software and have appointed themselves as "Guardians of Research Integrity". Also, they publish stuff like this.

A Clinical Trial Nightmare

Prepare for the most groan-inducing CRO drug trial situation you’ve come across in a loooooong time:

And so 2026 begins…with a resurrection of the myth that COVID vaccines cause “turbo cancers” I had hoped to let this cup pass, but, after a week and a half, I found that I couldn't. Eminent oncologist and cancer researcher Dr. Wafik El-Deiry is back and doubling down on the unproven claim tha

2026 begins…with a resurrection of the myth that COVID vaccines cause “turbo cancers:” A review that tried hard to show the vaccines cause cancer found very little, and used handwaving to speculate. via @gorskon.bsky.social sciencebasedmedicine.org/and-so-2026-... via @sciencebasedmedicine.org

I have written a blog at ForBetterScience. Scientific Reports appears to be as bad as ever despite promises to change and an "excellent team" forbetterscience.com/2026/01/06/s...

@spottingthespot.bsky.social

Merry $mas! pubpeer.com/publications...

Schneider Shorts 19.12.2025 – Merry Christmas! Schneider Shorts 19.12.2025- sleuth wins reward in a lawsuit, an Italian cheater can’t stop lying, with retractions for failed and failing science elites, a Nature expert investigation, and U…

Schneider Shorts 19.12.2025 – Merry Christmas!
forbetterscience.com/2025/12/19/s...

News & Publications Eugenie Reich & Gregg Shapiro Announce $15 Million NIH Grant Fraud Settlement (December 2025) Complaint Settlement Agreement Scientific Fraud in the 21st Century (Video Lecture) Sandia Nationa…

The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a $15 million NIH grant fraud settlement with Dana-Farber Cancer Center. This resolves a False Claims Act qui tam complaint that I filed on behalf of @sholtodavid.bsky.social in April 2024, with Gregg Shapiro as my co-counsel.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Agrees to Pay $15 Million to Settle Fraud Allegations Related to Scientific Research Grants BOSTON – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. (Dana-Farber) has agreed to pay $15 million to resolve allegations that, between 2014 and 2024, it made materially false statements and certifications relat...

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Agrees to Pay $15 Million to Settle Fraud Allegations Related to Scientific Research Grants. The relator [Sholto David] will receive $2,625,000 under today’s settlement.
www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/d...

Can't question the figure if it is illegible. Scientific Reports in September 2025. There are ancient clay tablets with more legible text. pubpeer.com/publications...

Screenshot of PubPeer comment by Sholto David highlighting a duplicated image

Niche product idea: a "matching pairs" memory game where the tiles are real duplicated images from scientific papers (like this one found by @sholtodavid.bsky.social)

Every now and again I do remember an image that I've seen previously, it's very frustrating because I usually have to go back so many papers... I believe @smutclyde.bsky.social has a more precise memory.

Ah, passive voice... is there anything that can't be done by it?

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

WTF au cube !

doi.org/10.1007/s125...

Even a simple picture of rocks cannot be published in an authentic form in Scientific Reports. Hope the authors are satisfied that the rocks have been made beautiful for the reader 🤷‍♀️ [Oct 2025]

pubpeer.com/publications...

Negative experiences like this are part of the reason that I rarely write longer comments about clinical data. It's just an impossible uphill struggle.

A couple of years ago, this paper (10.1136/jnnp-2022-330967) was published in a BMJ family journal and widely circulated, including an article in the BBC. Stonewalled at every turn when trying to get the raw data. PubPeer comment ignored. Never liked BMJ since. pubpeer.com/publications...