Plant embryonic development, also plant embryogenesis, is a process that occurs after the fertilization of an ovule to produce a fully developed plant embryo. This is a pertinent stage in the plant life cycle that is followed by dormancy and germination. The zygote produced after fertilization must undergo various cellular divisions and differentiations to become a mature embryo. An end stage embryo has five major components including the shoot apical meristem, hypocotyl, root meristem, root cap, and cotyledons. Unlike the embryonic development in animals, and specifically in humans,
plant embryonic development results in an immature form of the plant,
lacking most structures like leaves, stems, and reproductive structures. However, both plants and animals including humans, pass through a phylotypic stage that evolved independently and that causes a developmental constraint limiting morphological diversification.
Morphogenic events
Embryogenesis
occurs naturally as a result of single, or double fertilization, of the
ovule, giving rise to two distinct structures: the plant embryo and the
endosperm which go on to develop into a seed.
The zygote goes through various cellular differentiations and divisions
in order to produce a mature embryo. These morphogenic events form the
basic cellular pattern for the development of the shoot-root body and
the primary tissue layers; it also programs the regions of meristematic
tissue formation. The following morphogenic events are only particular
to eudicots, and not monocots.
Six moments in embryogenesis
Two cell stage
Eight cell stage
Globular stage
Heart stage
Torpedo stage
Maturation
endosperm
single celled zygote
embryo
suspensor
cotyledons
shoot apical meristem (SAM)
root apical meristem (RAM)
Closer look at the early embryo.
Plant
Following
fertilization, the zygote and endosperm are present within the ovule,
as seen in stage I of the illustration on this page. Then the zygote
undergoes an asymmetric transverse cell division that gives rise to two cells - a small apical cell resting above a large basal cell.
These two cells are very different, and give rise to different structures, establishing polarity in the embryo.
apical cell
The small apical cell is on the top and contains most of the cytoplasm, the aqueous substance found within cells, from the original zygote. It gives rise to the hypocotyl, shoot apical meristem, and cotyledons.
basal cell
The large basal cell is on the bottom and consists of a large vacuole and gives rise to the hypophysis and the suspensor.
Eight cell stage
After two rounds of longitudinal division and one round of transverse division, an eight-celled embryo is the result.
Stage II, in the illustration above, indicates what the embryo looks
like during the eight cell stage. According to Laux et al., there are
four distinct domains during the eight cell stage. The first two domains contribute to the embryo proper. The apical embryo domain, gives rise to the shoot apical meristem and cotyledons. The second domain, the central embryo domain, gives rise to the hypocotyl, root apical meristem, and parts of the cotyledons. The third domain, the basal embryo domain, contains the hypophysis. The hypophysis will later give rise to the radicle and the root cap. The last domain, the suspensor, is the region at the very bottom, which connects the embryo to the endosperm for nutritional purposes.
Sixteen cell stage
Additional
cell divisions occur, which leads to the sixteen cell stage. The four
domains are still present, but they are more defined with the presence
of more cells. The important aspect of this stage is the introduction of
the protoderm, which is meristematic tissue that will give rise to the
epidermis. The protoderm is the outermost layer of cells in the embryo proper.
Globular stage
The
name of this stage is indicative of the embryo's appearance at this
point in embryogenesis; it is spherical or globular. Stage III, in the
photograph above, depicts what the embryo looks like during the globular
stage. 1 is indicating the location of the endosperm. The important
component of the globular phase is the introduction of the rest of the
primary meristematic tissue. The protoderm was already introduced during
the sixteen cell stage. According to Evert and Eichhorn, the ground
meristem and procambium are initiated during the globular stage. The ground meristem will go on to form the ground tissue, which includes the pith and cortex. The procambium will eventually form the vascular tissue, which includes the xylem and phloem.
Heart stage
According to Evert and Eichhorn, the heart stage is a transition period where the cotyledons finally start to form and elongate.
It is given this name in eudicots because most plants from this group
have two cotyledons, giving the embryo a heart shaped appearance. The
shoot apical meristem is between the cotyledons. Stage IV, in the
illustration above, indicates what the embryo looks like at this point
in development. 5 indicates the position of the cotyledons.
Proembryo stage
The proembryo stage is defined by the continued growth of the cotyledons and axis elongation.
In addition, programmed cell death must occur during this stage. This
is carried out throughout the entire growth process, like any other
development. However, in the torpedo stage of development, parts of the suspensor complex must be terminated.
The suspensor complex is shortened because at this point in development
most of the nutrition from the endosperm has been utilized, and there
must be space for the mature embryo. After the suspensor complex is gone, the embryo is fully developed. Stage V, in the illustration above, indicates what the embryo looks like at this point in development.
Maturation
The
second phase, or postembryonic development, involves the maturation of
cells, which involves cell growth and the storage of macromolecules
(such as oils, starches and proteins) required as a 'food and energy
supply' during germination and seedling growth. In this stage, the seed coat hardens to help protect the embryo and store available nutrients. The appearance of a mature embryo is seen in Stage VI, in the illustration above.
Dormancy
The
end of embryogenesis is defined by an arrested development phase, or
stop in growth. This phase usually coincides with a necessary component
of growth called dormancy.
Dormancy is a period in which a seed cannot germinate, even under
optimal environmental conditions, until a specific requirement is met.
Breaking dormancy, or finding the specific requirement of the seed, can
be rather difficult. For example, a seed coat can be extremely thick.
According to Evert and Eichhorn, very thick seed coats must undergo a
process called scarification, in order to deteriorate the coating.
In other cases, seeds must experience stratification. This process
exposes the seed to certain environmental conditions, like cold or
smoke, to break dormancy and initiate germination.
The role of auxin
Auxin is a hormone related to the elongation and regulation of plants.
It also plays an important role in the establishment polarity with the
plant embryo. Research has shown that the hypocotyl from both
gymnosperms and angiosperms show auxin transport to the root end of the
embryo.
They hypothesized that the embryonic pattern is regulated by the auxin
transport mechanism and the polar positioning of cells within the ovule.
The importance of auxin was shown, in their research, when carrot
embryos, at different stages, were subjected to auxin transport
inhibitors. The inhibitors that these carrots were subjected to made
them unable to progress to later stages of embryogenesis. During the
globular stage of embryogenesis, the embryos continued spherical
expansion. In addition, oblong embryos continued axial growth, without
the introduction of cotyledons. During the heart embryo stage of
development, there were additional growth axes on hypocotyls. Further
auxin transport inhibition research, conducted on Brassica juncea, shows that after germination, the cotyledons were fused and not two separate structures.
Alternative forms of embryogenesis
Somatic embryogenesis
Somatic
embryos are formed from plant cells that are not normally involved in
the development of embryos, i.e. ordinary plant tissue. No endosperm or
seed coat is formed around a somatic embryo. Applications of this
process include: clonal propagation of genetically uniform plant
material; elimination of viruses; provision of source tissue for genetic
transformation; generation of whole plants from single cells called protoplasts;
development of synthetic seed technology. Cells derived from competent
source tissue are cultured to form an undifferentiated mass of cells
called a callus. Plant growth regulators
in the tissue culture medium can be manipulated to induce callus
formation and subsequently changed to induce embryos to form the callus.
The ratio of different plant growth regulators
required to induce callus or embryo formation varies with the type of
plant. Asymmetrical cell division also seems to be important in the
development of somatic embryos, and while failure to form the suspensor
cell is lethal to zygotic embryos, it is not lethal for somatic embryos.
Androgenesis
The process of androgenesis allows a mature plant embryo to form from a reduced, or immature, pollen grain. Androgenesis usually occurs under stressful conditions.
Embryos that result from this mechanism can germinate into fully
functional plants. As mentioned, the embryo results from a single pollen
grain. Pollen grains consists of three cells - one vegetative cell
containing two generative cells. According to Maraschin et al.,
androgenesis must be triggered during the asymmetric division of
microspores.
However, once the vegetative cell starts to make starch and proteins,
androgenesis can no longer occur. Maraschin et al., indicates that this
mode of embryogenesis consists of three phases. The first phase is the acquisition of embryonic potential, which is the repression of gametophyte formation, so that the differentiation of cells can occur. Then during the initiation of cell divisions, multicellular structures begin to form, which are contained by the exine wall. The last step of androgenesis is pattern formation, where the embryo-like structures are released out of the exile wall, in order for pattern formation to continue.
After these three phases occur, the rest of the process falls in line with the standard embryogenesis events.
Plant growth and buds
Embryonic tissue is made up of actively growing cells
and the term is normally used to describe the early formation of tissue
in the first stages of growth. It can refer to different stages of the sporophyte and gametophyte plant; including the growth of embryos in seedlings, and to meristematic tissues, which are in a persistently embryonic state, to the growth of new buds on stems.
In both gymnosperms and angiosperms, the young plant contained in the seed, begins as a developing egg-cell formed after fertilization (sometimes without fertilization in a process called apomixis) and becomes a plant embryo.
This embryonic condition also occurs in the buds that form on stems.
The buds have tissue that has differentiated but not grown into
complete structures. They can be in a resting state, lying dormant over
winter or when conditions are dry, and then commence growth when
conditions become suitable. Before they start growing into stem, leaves,
or flowers, the buds are said to be in an embryonic state.
Traditionally, Jews in the Muslim world were considered to be People of the Book and were subjected to dhimmi status. They were afforded relative security against persecution, provided they did not contest the varying inferior social and legal status imposed on them under Islamic rule.
By the 1980s, according to historian Bernard Lewis,
the volume of antisemitic literature published in the Arab world, and
the authority of its sponsors, seemed to suggest that classical
antisemitism had become an essential part of Arab intellectual life,
considerably more than in late 19th- and early 20th-century France and
to a degree that has been compared to Nazi Germany. The rise of political Islam during the 1980s and afterwards provided a new mutation of Islamic antisemitism, giving the hatred of Jews a religious component.
In their 2008 report on contemporary Arab-Muslim antisemitism, the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center dates the beginning of this phenomenon to the spread of classic European Christian antisemitism into the Arab world starting in the late 19th century. In 2014, the Anti-Defamation League
published a global survey of worldwide antisemitic attitudes, reporting
that in the Middle East, 74% of adults agreed with a majority of the
survey's eleven antisemitic propositions, including that "Jews have too
much power in international financial markets" and that "Jews are
responsible for most of the world's wars."
Dhimmi were subjected to a number of restrictions, the
application and severity of which varied with time and place.
Restrictions included residency in segregated quarters, obligation to wear distinctive clothing,
public subservience to Muslims, prohibitions against proselytizing and
against marrying Muslim women, and limited access to the legal system
(the testimony of a Jew did not count if contradicted by that of a
Muslim). Dhimmi had to pay a special poll tax (the jizya), which exempted them from military service, and also from payment of the zakat alms tax required of Muslims. In return, dhimmi were granted limited rights, including a degree of tolerance,
community autonomy in personal matters, and protection from being
killed outright. Jewish communities, like Christian ones, were typically
constituted as semi-autonomous entities managed by their own laws and
leadership, who carried the responsibility for the community towards the
Muslim rulers.
The situation of Jews was comparatively better than their European counterparts, though they still suffered persecution. Between the years of death of Idris I of Morocco in 793 and beginning of Almohad rule in 1130, Jews mostly led a peaceful existence in North Africa. The Almohads started forcing Jews and Christians to convert to Islam or be killed after conquering the region. There were also numerous massacres at other times in Morocco, Libya, and Algeria.
The situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economic
prosperity at times, but were widely persecuted at other times, was
summarised by G. E. Von Grunebaum:
It would not be difficult to put together the names of a
very sizable number of Jewish subjects or citizens of the Islamic area
who have attained to high rank, to power, to great financial influence,
to significant and recognized intellectual attainment; and the same
could be done for Christians. But it would again not be difficult to
compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations,
attempted forced conversions, or pogroms.
Views in modernity
Some scholars hold that Arab antisemitism in the modern world arose
in the nineteenth century, against the backdrop of conflicting Jewish
and Arab nationalism, and was imported into the Arab world primarily by
nationalistically minded Christian Arabs (and only subsequently was it
"Islamized"), Mark Cohen states. According to Bernard Lewis:
The volume of anti-Semitic books
and articles published, the size and number of editions and impressions,
the eminence and authority of those who write, publish and sponsor
them, their place in school and college curricula, their role in the
mass media, would all seem to suggest that classical anti-Semitism is an
essential part of Arab intellectual life at the present time-almost as
much as happened in Nazi Germany, and considerably more than in late
nineteenth and early twentieth century France."
The Damascus affair was an accusation of ritual murder and a blood libel against Jews in Damascus in 1840. On February 5, 1840, FranciscanCapuchin friar Father Thomas and his Greek servant were reported missing, never to be seen again. The Turkish governor and the French consul Ratti-Menton believed accusations of ritual murder and blood libel, as the alleged murder occurred before the Jewish Passover. An investigation was staged, and Solomon Negrin, a Jewish barber, confessed under torture and accused other Jews. Two other Jews died under torture, and one (Moses Abulafia) converted to Islam to escape torture. More arrests and atrocities followed, culminating in 63 Jewish children being held hostage and mob attacks on Jewish communities throughout the Middle East. International outrage led to Ibrahim Pasha in Egypt ordering an investigation. Negotiations in Alexandria
eventually secured the unconditional release and recognition of
innocence of the nine prisoners still remaining alive (out of thirteen).
Later in Constantinople, Moses Montefiore (leader of the British Jewish community) persuaded Sultan Abdülmecid I to issue a firman (edict) intended to halt the spread of blood libel accusations in the Ottoman Empire:
... and for the love we bear to our subjects, we cannot permit the
Jewish nation, whose innocence for the crime alleged against them is
evident, to be worried and tormented as a consequence of accusations
which have not the least foundation in truth....
Nevertheless, the blood libel spread through the Middle East and North Africa: Aleppo (1810, 1850, 1875), Damascus (1840, 1848, 1890), Safi, Morocco in 1863,
Beirut (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jerusalem (1847), Cairo
(1844, 1890, 1901–02), Mansura (1877), Alexandria (1870, 1882, 1901–02),
Port Said (1903, 1908), and Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1892).
The Dreyfus affair
of the late 19th century had consequences in the Arab world. Passionate
outbursts of antisemitism in France were echoed in areas of French
influence, especially MaroniteLebanon.
The Muslim Arab press, however, was sympathetic to the falsely accused
Captain Dreyfus, and criticized the persecution of Jews in France.
While Arab antisemitism has increased in the wake of the Arab–Israeli conflict, there were pogroms against Jews prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, including Nazi-inspired pogroms in Algeria in the 1930s, and attacks on the Jews of Iraq and Libya in the 1940s. In 1941, 180 Jews were murdered and 700 were injured in the anti-Jewish riots known as "the Farhud".
Four hundred Jews were injured in violent demonstrations in Egypt in
1945 and Jewish property was vandalized and looted. In Libya, 130 Jews
were killed and 266 injured. In December 1947, 13 Jews were killed in
Damascus, including 8 children, and 26 were injured. In Aleppo, rioting
resulted in dozens of Jewish casualties, damage to 150 Jewish homes, and
the torching of 5 schools and 10 synagogues. In Yemen, 97 Jews were
murdered and 120 injured.
Speculated causes
Antisemitism in the Arab world increased in the 20th century, as resentment against Jewish immigration and Zionist activities in Palestine Mandate grew. Around this time, the fabricated antisemitic textThe Protocols of the Elders of Zion started to become available in Palestine. A translation of the text in Arabic was done by an Arab Christian in Cairo in 1927 or 1928, this time as a published book. In March 1921, Musa Khazem El Husseini, Mayor of Jerusalem, told Winston Churchill
"The Jews have been amongst the most active advocates of destruction in
many lands. ... It is well known that the disintegration of Russia was
wholly or in great part brought about by the Jews, and a large
proportion of the defeat of Germany and Austria must also be put at
their door."
Matthias Küntzel has suggested that the decisive transfer of Jewish conspiracy theory took place between 1937 and 1945 under the impact of Nazi propaganda targeted at the Arab world.
According to Kuntzel, the Nazi Arabic radio service had a staff of 80
and broadcast every day in Arabic, stressing the similarities between
Islam and Nazism and supported by the activities of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini (who broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda from Berlin). Alongside al-Husseini's collaboration with the Nazis, cooperative political and military relationships between the Arab world and the Axis powers (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy) were founded on shared antisemitic scorn and hostilities toward common enemies: the United Kingdom, France, and Zionism. The Nazi regime also provided funding to the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, which began calling for boycotts of Jewish businesses in 1936.
Bernard Lewis also describes Nazi influence in the Arab world, including its impact on Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of Ba'athist thought (which later dominated Syria and Iraq).
After the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws, Hitler received telegrams
of congratulation from all over the Arab and Muslim world, especially
from Morocco and Palestine, where the Nazi propaganda had been most
active.... Before long political parties of the Nazi and Fascist type
began to appear, complete with paramilitary youth organizations, colored
shirts, strict discipline and more or less charismatic leaders.
Amin al-Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council meeting with Adolf Hitler (December 1941)
George Gruen attributes the increased animosity towards Jews in the Arab world to the defeat and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; domination by Western colonial powers
under which Jews gained a disproportionately large role in the
commercial, professional, and administrative life of the region; the
rise of Arab nationalism, whose proponents sought the wealth and positions of local Jews through government channels; resentment over Jewish nationalism and the Zionist movement; and the readiness of unpopular Arab regimes to scapegoat local Jews for political purposes.
After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Palestinian exodus, the creation of the state of Israel,
and the independence of Arab countries from European control,
conditions for Jews in the Arab world deteriorated. Over the next few
decades, almost all would flee the Arab world, some willingly, and some
under threat (see Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries).
In 1945 there were between 758,000 and 866,000 Jews (see table below)
living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are fewer
than 8,000. In some Arab states, such as Libya
(which was once around 3% Jewish), the Jewish community no longer
exists; in other Arab countries, only a few hundred Jews remain.
Harvard University Professor Ruth R. Wisse
claims that "anti-Semitism / Zionism has been the cornerstone of
pan-Arab politics since the Second World War" and that it is the
"strongest actual and potential source of unity" in the Arab world.
This is because Jews and Israel function as substitutes for Western
values that challenge the hegemony of religious and political power in
the Middle East. Antisemitism is also malleable enough that it can unite
right-wing and left-wing groups within the Arab world.
Robert Bernstein, founder of Human Rights Watch, says that antisemitism is "deeply ingrained and institutionalized" in "Arab nations in modern times".
In 2003, Israeli-Arab Raed Salah, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel published the following poem in the Islamic Movement's periodical:
You Jews are criminal bombers of mosques,
Slaughterers of pregnant women and babies.
Robbers and germs in all times,
The Creator sentenced you to be loser monkeys,
Victory belongs to Muslims, from the Nile to the Euphrates.
During a speech in 2007, Salah accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread.
"We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread
that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's
blood," he said. "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask
what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed
in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread."
Kamal Khatib, deputy leader of the northern branch of the Islamic
movement, referred in one of his speeches to the Jews as "fleas".
Of all groups surveyed, a 2010 Pew Research global poll found
that Israeli Arabs have the lowest rate of anti-Jewish attitudes in the
Middle East.
The Egyptian government-run newspaper, Al Akhbar, on April 29, 2002, published an editorial denying the Holocaust as a fraud. The next paragraph decries the failure of the Holocaust to eliminate all of the Jews:
With regard to the fraud of the Holocaust. ... Many French studies
have proven that this is no more than a fabrication, a lie, and a
fraud!! That is, it is a 'scenario' the plot of which was carefully
tailored, using several faked photos completely unconnected to the
truth. Yes, it is a film, no more and no less. Hitler himself, whom they
accuse of Nazism, is in my eyes no more than a modest 'pupil' in the
world of murder and bloodshed. He is completely innocent of the charge
of frying them in the hell of his false Holocaust!!
The entire matter, as many French and British scientists and researchers
have proven, is nothing more than a huge Israeli plot aimed at
extorting the German government in particular and the European countries
in general. But I, personally and in light of this imaginary tale,
complain to Hitler, even saying to him from the bottom of my heart, 'If
only you had done it, brother, if only it had really happened, so that
the world could sigh in relief [without] their evil and sin.'
In an article in October 2000 columnist Adel Hammoda alleged in the state-owned Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram that Jews made Matza from the blood of (non-Jewish) children. Mohammed Salmawy, editor of Al-Ahram Hebdo, "defended the use of old European myths like the blood libel" in his newspapers.
In August 2010, Saudi columnist Iman Al-Quwaifli sharply criticized the "phenomenon of sympathy for Adolf Hitler and for Nazism in the Arab world",
specifically citing the words of Hussam Fawzi Jabar, an Islamic cleric
who justified Hitler's actions against the Jews in an Egyptian talk show
one month earlier.
In an October 2012 sermon broadcast on Egyptian Channel 1 (which was attended by Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi) Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour, the Head of Religious Endowment of the Matrouh Governorate, prayed (as translated by MEMRI):
O Allah, absolve us of our sins,
strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels. O Allah, destroy
the Jews and their supporters. O Allah, disperse them, rend them
asunder. O Allah, demonstrate Your might and greatness upon them.
In 2001–2002, Arab Radio and Television produced a 30-part television miniseries entitled Horseman Without a Horse, starring prominent Egyptian actor Mohamed Sobhi, which contains dramatizations of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The United States and Israel criticized Egypt for airing the program,
which includes racist falsehoods that have a history of being used "as a
pretext for persecuting Jews".
Jordan
does not allow entry to Jews with visible signs of Judaism or even with
personal religious items in their possession. The Jordanian ambassador
to Israel replied to a complaint by a religious Jew denied entry that
security concerns required that travelers entering the Hashemite Kingdom
not do so with prayer shawls (Tallit) and phylacteries (Tefillin). Jordanian authorities state that the policy is in order to ensure the Jewish tourists' safety.
In July 2009, six BreslovHasidim were deported after attempting entry into Jordan in order to visit the tomb of Aaron / Sheikh Harun on Mount Hor, near Petra, because of an alert from the Ministry of Tourism. The group had taken a ferry from Sinai, Egypt because they understood that Jordanian authorities were making it hard for visible Jews to enter from Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of the issue.
Hostility toward Jews is common in Saudi Arabian media, religious sermons, school curriculum, and official government policy.
Indoctrination against Jews is a part of school curriculum in
Saudi Arabia. Children are advised not to befriend Jews, are given
false information about them (such as the claim that Jews worship the
Devil), and are encouraged to engage in jihad against Jews.
Conspiracy theories about Jews are widely disseminated in Saudi Arabian state-controlled media.
According to the U.S. State Department, religious freedom "does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, and therefore, Jews may not freely practice their religion.
Syria
Clockwise from top left: Fara Zeibak, Mazal Zeibak, Eva Saad and Lulu Zeibak
On March 2, 1974, the bodies of four Syrian Jewish
women were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani
Mountains northwest of Damascus. Fara Zeibak (24), her sisters Lulu
Zeibak (23), Mazal Zeibak (22) and their cousin Eva Saad (18), had
contracted with a band of smugglers to flee Syria to Lebanon and
eventually to Israel. The girls' bodies were found raped, murdered and
mutilated. The police also found the remains of two Jewish boys, Natan
Shaya (18) and Kassem Abadi (20), victims of an earlier massacre. Syrian authorities deposited the bodies of all six in sacks before the homes of their parents in the Jewish ghetto in Damascus.
In 1984 Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass published a book called The Matzah of Zion, which claimed that Jews had killed Christian children in Damascus to make Matzas (see Damascus affair). His book inspired the Egyptian TV series Horseman Without a Horse (see § Egypt) and a spinoff, The Diaspora, which led to Hezbollah's al-Manar being banned in Europe for broadcasting it.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke visited Syria in November 2005 and made a speech that was broadcast live on Syrian television.
Tunisia
The history of the Jews in Tunisia
goes back to Roman times. Before 1948, the Jewish population of Tunisia
reached a peak of 110,000. Today it has a Jewish community of less than
2,000 people.[62]
Antisemitism in Vichy-era Tunisia was deeply intertwined with colonial
politics and Mediterranean rivalries. Following France's 1940 defeat,
the Vichy government implemented antisemitic laws in Tunisia, targeting
the region's diverse Jewish community of Tunisian, French, and Italian
nationals. These laws, aimed at economic aryanization and exclusion of
Jews from public life, were also tools for consolidating French colonial
authority. However, enforcement was inconsistent, as colonial officials
sought to avoid destabilising the economy or provoking intervention
from Fascist Italy, which used its Jewish population to maintain
influence. Rather than reflecting ethical restraint, this caution
highlighted the tension between antisemitic ideology and pragmatic
efforts to safeguard French control amid geopolitical competition and
wartime pressures.
For a personal account of the discrimination and physical attacks
experienced by Jews in Tunisia the Jewish-Arab anti-colonialist writer Albert Memmi wrote:
At each crisis, with every incident of the slightest importance, the
mob would go wild, setting fire to Jewish shops. This even happened
during the Yom Kippur War. Tunisia's President, Habib Bourguiba, has in
all probability never been hostile to the Jews, but there was always
that notorious "delay", which meant that the police arrived on the scene
only after the shops had been pillaged and burnt. Is it any wonder that
the exodus to France and Israel continued and even increased?
On November 30, 2012, prominent Tunisian imam Sheikh Ahmad Al-Suhayli of Radès, told his followers during a live broadcast on Hannibal TV that "God wants to destroy this [Tunisian] sprinkling of Jews and is sterilizing the wombs of Jewish women."
This was the fourth time incitement against Jews has been reported in
the public sphere since the overthrow of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, thus prompting Jewish community leaders to demand security protection from the Tunisian government. Al-Suhayli subsequently posted a video on the Internet in which he claimed that his statements had been misinterpreted.
On January 18, 2021, Tunisian president Kais Saied
was caught on video telling a crowd that "We know very well who the
people are who are controlling the country today. It is the Jews who are
doing the stealing, and we need to put an end to it." Saied's office responded that the president's words had been misheard and that he meant to say something else instead of Jews. Two days later, Saied publicly apologized for his statements, holding a phone call with Djerba's chief rabbi, Haim Bitan in which he expressed regret for his statements.
Hamas, an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood,
has a foundational statement of principles, or "covenant" that claims
that the French revolution, the Russian revolution, colonialism and both
world wars were created by the Zionists. It also claims the Freemasons and Rotary clubs are Zionist fronts and refers to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Claims that Jews and Freemasons were behind the French Revolution originated in Germany in the mid-19th century.
Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the PLO, published a Ph.D. thesis (at Moscow University) in 1982, called The Secret Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement.
His doctoral thesis later became a book, The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, which, following his appointment as Palestinian Prime Minister in 2003, was heavily criticized as an example of Holocaust denial. In his book, Abbas wrote:
It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to
inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be
greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order
to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism.
Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached
stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few
hundred thousand.
Lebanon
Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV channel has often been accused of airing antisemitic broadcasts, blaming the Jews for a Zionist conspiracy against the Arab world, and often airing excerpts from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,
Al-Manar recently aired a drama series, called The Diaspora, which is based on historical antisemitic allegations. BBC reporters who watched the series said that:
Correspondents who have viewed The Diaspora note that it quotes extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious 19th-century publication used by the Nazis among others to fuel race hatred.
In another incident, an Al-Manar commentator recently referred to "Zionist attempts to transmit AIDS
to Arab countries". Al-Manar officials deny broadcasting antisemitic
incitement and state that their position is anti-Israeli, not
antisemitic. However, Hezbollah has directed strong rhetoric both
against Israel and Jews, and it has cooperated in publishing and
distributing outright antisemitic literature. The government of Lebanon
has not criticized continued broadcast of antisemitic material on
television.
Due to protests by the CRIF umbrella group of French Jews regarding allegations of antisemitic content, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin
called for a ban on Al-Manar broadcasting in France on December 2,
2004, just two weeks after al-Manar was authorised to continue
broadcasting in Europe by France's media watchdog agency.
On December 13, 2004, France's highest administrative court banned
Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV station on the grounds that it consistently
incites racial hatred and antisemitism.
The 1940s and the establishment of Israel
saw rapid emigration of Jews out of Yemen, in the wake of anti-Jewish
riots and massacres. By the late 1990s, only several hundred remained,
mainly in a northwestern mountainous region named Sa'ada and town of Raida. Houthi
members put up notes on the Jews' doors, accusing them of corrupting
Muslim morals. Eventually, the Houthi leaders sent threatening messages
to the Jewish community: "We warn you to leave the area immediately....
We give you a period of 10 days, or you will regret it."
On 28 March 2021, 13 Jews were forced by the Houthis to leave Yemen, leaving four elderly Jews the only Jews still in Yemen.
Opinion polling
In 2008, a Pew Research Center
survey found that negative views concerning Jews were most common in
the three predominantly Arab nations polled, with 97% of Lebanese having
unfavorable opinion of Jews, 95% in Egypt, and 96% in Jordan.
A Lancet review on Handling of Scientific Misconduct in Scandinavian countries provides the following sample definitions, reproduced in The COPE report 1999:
Danish definition: "Intention or gross negligence leading to
fabrication of the scientific message or a false credit or emphasis
given to a scientist"
Swedish definition: "Intention[al] distortion of the research
process by fabrication of data, text, hypothesis, or methods from
another researcher's manuscript form or publication; or distortion of
the research process in other ways."
The consequences of scientific misconduct can be damaging for perpetrators and journal audiences and for any individual who exposes it.
In addition there are public health implications attached to the
promotion of medical or other interventions based on false or fabricated
research findings. Scientific misconduct can result in loss of public trust in the integrity of science.
Three percent of the 3,475 research institutions that report to the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Research Integrity indicate some form of scientific misconduct.
However the ORI will only investigate allegations of impropriety where
research was funded by federal grants. They routinely monitor such
research publications for red flags and their investigation is subject
to a statute of limitations. Other private organizations like the
Committee of Medical Journal Editors (COJE) can only police their own
members.
Motivation
According to David Goodstein of Caltech, there are motivators for scientists to commit misconduct, which are briefly summarised here.
Career pressure
Science is still a very strongly career-driven discipline. Scientists depend on a good reputation to receive ongoing support and funding,
and a good reputation relies largely on the publication of high-profile
scientific papers. Hence, there is a strong imperative to "publish or perish". This may motivate desperate (or fame-hungry) scientists to fabricate results.
Ease of fabrication
In many scientific fields, results are often difficult to reproduce accurately, being obscured by noise, artifacts, and other extraneous data.
That means that even if a scientist does falsify data, they can expect
to get away with it – or at least claim innocence if their results
conflict with others in the same field. There are few strongly backed
systems to investigate possible violations, attempt to press charges, or
punish deliberate misconduct. It is relatively easy to cheat although
difficult to know exactly how many scientists fabricate data.
Monetary Gain
In many scientific fields, the most lucrative options for
professionals are often selling opinions. Corporations can pay experts
to support products directly or indirectly via conferences.
Psychologists can make money by repeatedly acting as an expert witness
in custody proceedings for the same law firms.
Fabrication is making up results and recording or reporting them. This is sometimes referred to as "drylabbing".
A more minor form of fabrication is where references are included to
give arguments the appearance of widespread acceptance, but are actually
fake, or do not support the argument.
Falsification is manipulating research materials, equipment,
or processes or changing or omitting data or results such that the
research is not accurately represented in the research record.
Plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas,
processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. One form
is the appropriation of the ideas and results of others, and publishing
as to make it appear the author had performed all the work under which
the data was obtained. A subset is citation plagiarism – willful
or negligent failure to appropriately credit other or prior discoverers,
so as to give an improper impression of priority. This is also known
as, "citation amnesia", the "disregard syndrome" and "bibliographic
negligence".
Arguably, this is the most common type of scientific misconduct.
Sometimes it is difficult to guess whether authors intentionally ignored
a highly relevant cite or lacked knowledge of the prior work.
Discovery credit can also be inadvertently reassigned from the original
discoverer to a better-known researcher. This is a special case of the Matthew effect.
Plagiarism-fabrication – the act of taking an unrelated figure
from an unrelated publication and reproducing it exactly in a new
publication, claiming that it represents new data.
Self-plagiarism – or multiple publication of the same content with different titles or in different journals is sometimes also considered misconduct; scientific journals
explicitly ask authors not to do this. It is referred to as "salami"
(i.e. many identical slices) in the jargon of medical journal editors.
According to some editors, this includes publishing the same article in a
different language.
Other types of research misconduct are also recognized:
Ghostwriting
describes when someone other than the named author(s) makes a major
contribution to the research. Typically, this is done to mask
contributions from authors with a conflict of interest.
Guest authorship is the phenomenon wherein authorship is given to someone who has not made any substantial contribution. This can be done by senior researchers who muscle their way onto the papers of inexperienced junior researchers
as well as others that stack authorship in an effort to guarantee
publication. This is much harder to prove due to a lack of consistency
in defining "authorship" or "substantial contribution".
Scientific misconduct can also occur during the peer-review process by a reviewer or editor with a conflict of interest. Reviewer-coerced citation can also inflate the perceived citation impact of a researcher's work and their reputation in the scientific community,
similar to excessive self-citation. Reviewers are expected to be
impartial and assess the quality of their work. They are expected to
declare a conflict of interest to the editors if they are colleagues or
competitors of the authors. A rarer case of scientific misconduct is
editorial misconduct,
where an editor does not declare conflicts of interest, creates
pseudonyms to review papers, gives strongly worded editorial decisions
to support reviews suggesting to add excessive citations to their own
unrelated works or to add themselves as a co-author or their name to the
title of the manuscript.
Publishing in a predatory journal, knowingly or unknowingly, was discussed as a form of potential scientific misconduct.
The peer-review process can have limitations when considering
research outside the conventional scientific paradigm: social factors
such as "groupthink" can interfere with open and fair deliberation of new research.
Sneaked references is the act of subtly embedding references
that are not present in a manuscript in the metadata of this accepted
manuscript without the original authors being capable of noticing or
correcting such modifications.
Photo manipulation
Compared
to other forms of scientific misconduct, image fraud (manipulation of
images to distort their meaning) is of particular interest since it can
frequently be detected by external parties. In 2006, the Journal of Cell Biology gained publicity for instituting tests to detect photo manipulation in papers that were being considered for publication. This was in response to the increased usage of programs such as Adobe Photoshop by scientists, which facilitate photo manipulation. Since then more publishers, including the Nature Publishing Group,
have instituted similar tests and require authors to minimize and
specify the extent of photo manipulation when a manuscript is submitted
for publication. However, there is little evidence to indicate that such
tests are applied rigorously. One Nature paper published in 2009 has subsequently been reported to contain around 20 separate instances of image fraud.
Although the type of manipulation that is allowed can depend
greatly on the type of experiment that is presented and also differ from
one journal to another, in general the following manipulations are not
allowed:
splicing together different images to represent a single experiment
showing only a very small part of the photograph so that additional information is not visible
Image manipulations are typically done on visually repetitive images such as those of blots and microscope images.
Helicopter research
Neo-colonial research or neo-colonial science, frequently described as helicopter research, parachute science or research, parasitic research, or safari study, is when researchers from wealthier countries go to a developing country, collect information, travel back to their country, analyze the data and samples, and publish the results with no or little involvement of local researchers. A 2003 study by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences found that 70% of articles in a random sample of publications about least-developed countries did not include a local research co-author.
Frequently, during this kind of research, the local colleagues might be used to provide logistics support as fixers but are not engaged for their expertise or given credit for their participation in the research. Scientific publications
resulting from parachute science frequently only contribute to the
career of the scientists from rich countries, thus limiting the
development of local science capacity (such as funded research centers) and the careers of local scientists.
This form of "colonial" science has reverberations of 19th century
scientific practices of treating non-Western participants as "others" in
order to advance colonialism—and critics call for the end of these extractivist practices in order to decolonize knowledge.
This kind of research approach reduces the quality of research because
international researchers may not ask the right questions or draw
connections to local issues. The result of this approach is that local communities are unable to leverage the research to their own advantage. Ultimately, especially for fields dealing with global issues like conservation biology which rely on local communities to implement solutions, neo-colonial science prevents institutionalization of the findings in local communities in order to address issues being studied by scientists.
Responsibilities
Authorship responsibility
All
authors of a scientific publication are expected to have made
reasonable attempts to check findings submitted to academic journals for
publication.
Simultaneous submission of scientific findings to more than one
journal or duplicate publication of findings is usually regarded as
misconduct, under what is known as the Ingelfinger rule, named after the
editor of The New England Journal of Medicine 1967–1977, Franz Ingelfinger.
Guest authorship
(where there is stated authorship in the absence of involvement, also
known as gift authorship) and ghost authorship (where the real author is
not listed as an author) are commonly regarded as forms of research
misconduct. In some cases coauthors of faked research have been accused
of inappropriate behavior or research misconduct for failing to verify
reports authored by others or by a commercial sponsor. Examples include
the case of Gerald Schatten who co-authored with Hwang Woo-Suk, the case of Professor Geoffrey Chamberlain named as guest author of papers fabricated by Malcolm Pearce, (Chamberlain was exonerated from collusion in Pearce's deception) – and the coauthors with Jan Hendrik Schön at Bell Laboratories. More recent cases include that of Charles Nemeroff, then the editor-in-chief of Neuropsychopharmacology, and a well-documented case involving the drug Actonel.
Authors are expected to keep all study data for later examination
even after publication. The failure to keep data may be regarded as
misconduct. Some scientific journals require that authors provide
information to allow readers to determine whether the authors might have
commercial or non-commercial conflicts of interest. Authors are also
commonly required to provide information about ethical aspects of
research, particularly where research involves human or animal
participants or use of biological material. Provision of incorrect
information to journals may be regarded as misconduct. Financial
pressures on universities have encouraged this type of misconduct. The
majority of recent cases of alleged misconduct involving undisclosed
conflicts of interest or failure of the authors to have seen scientific
data involve collaborative research between scientists and biotechnology
companies.
Research institution responsibility
In
general, defining whether an individual is guilty of misconduct
requires a detailed investigation by the individual's employing academic
institution. Such investigations require detailed and rigorous
processes and can be extremely costly. Furthermore, the more senior the
individual under suspicion, the more likely it is that conflicts of
interest will compromise the investigation. In many countries (with the
notable exception of the United States) acquisition of funds on the
basis of fraudulent data is not a legal offence and there is
consequently no regulator to oversee investigations into alleged
research misconduct. Universities therefore have few incentives to
investigate allegations in a robust manner, or act on the findings of
such investigations if they vindicate the allegation.
Well publicised cases illustrate the potential role that senior
academics in research institutions play in concealing scientific
misconduct. A King's College (London) internal investigation showed
research findings from one of their researchers to be 'at best
unreliable, and in many cases spurious' but the college took no action, such as retracting relevant published research or preventing further episodes from occurring.
In a more recent case
an internal investigation at the National Centre for Cell Science
(NCCS), Pune determined that there was evidence of misconduct by Gopal Kundu,
but an external committee was then organised which dismissed the
allegation, and the NCCS issued a memorandum exonerating the authors of
all charges of misconduct. Undeterred by the NCCS exoneration, the
relevant journal (Journal of Biological Chemistry) withdrew the paper based on its own analysis.
Scientific peer responsibility
Some
academics believe that scientific colleagues who suspect scientific
misconduct should consider taking informal action themselves, or
reporting their concerns.
This question is of great importance since much research suggests that
it is very difficult for people to act or come forward when they see
unacceptable behavior, unless they have help from their organizations. A
"User-friendly Guide" and the existence of a confidential organizational ombudsman may help people who are uncertain about what to do, or afraid of bad consequences for their speaking up.
Responsibility of journals
Journals
are responsible for safeguarding the research record and hence have a
critical role in dealing with suspected misconduct. This is recognised
by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), which has issued clear guidelines on the form (e.g. retraction) that concerns over the research record should take.
The COPE guidelines state that journal editors should consider
retracting a publication if they have clear evidence that the findings
are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication)
or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error). Retraction
is also appropriate in cases of redundant publication, plagiarism and
unethical research.
Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern
if they receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication
misconduct by the authors, there is evidence that the findings are
unreliable but the authors' institution will not investigate the case,
they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to
the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial
or conclusive, or an investigation is underway but a judgement will not
be available for a considerable time.
Journal editors should consider issuing a correction if a small
portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading
(especially because of honest error), or the author / contributor list
is incorrect (i.e. a deserving author has been omitted or somebody who
does not meet authorship criteria has been included).
Evidence emerged in 2012 that journals learning of cases where there
is strong evidence of possible misconduct, with issues potentially
affecting a large portion of the findings, frequently fail to issue an
expression of concern or correspond with the host institution so that an
investigation can be undertaken. In one case, Nature allowed a corrigendum
to be published despite clear evidence of image fraud. Subsequent
retraction of the paper required the actions of an independent
whistleblower.
The cases of Joachim Boldt and Yoshitaka Fujii in anaesthesiology
focussed attention on the role that journals play in perpetuating
scientific fraud as well as how they can deal with it. In the Boldt
case, the editors-in-chief of 18 specialist journals (generally
anesthesia and intensive care) made a joint statement regarding 88
published clinical trials conducted without Ethics Committee approval.
In the Fujii case, involving nearly 200 papers, the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia,
which published 24 of Fujii's papers, has accepted that its handling of
the issue was inadequate. Following publication of a letter to the
editor from Kranke and colleagues in April 2000,
along with a non-specific response from Dr. Fujii, there was no
follow-up on the allegation of data manipulation and no request for an
institutional review of Dr. Fujii's research. Anesthesia & Analgesia
went on to publish 11 additional manuscripts by Dr. Fujii following the
2000 allegations of research fraud, with Editor Steven Shafer stating
in March 2012 that subsequent submissions to the journal by Dr. Fujii
should not have been published without first vetting the allegations of
fraud. In April 2012 Shafer led a group of editors to write a joint
statement,
in the form of an ultimatum made available to the public, to a large
number of academic institutions where Fujii had been employed, offering
these institutions the chance to attest to the integrity of the bulk of
the allegedly fraudulent papers.
Consequences of scientific misconduct
Consequences for science
The
consequences of scientific fraud vary based on the severity of the
fraud, the level of notice it receives, and how long it goes undetected.
For cases of fabricated evidence, the consequences can be
wide-ranging, with others working to confirm (or refute) the false
finding, or with research agendas being distorted to address the
fraudulent evidence. The Piltdown Man
fraud is a case in point: The significance of the bona-fide fossils
that were being found was muted for decades because they disagreed with
Piltdown Man and the preconceived notions that those faked fossils
supported. In addition, the prominent paleontologist Arthur Smith Woodward
spent time at Piltdown each year until he died, trying to find more
Piltdown Man remains. The misdirection of resources kept others from
taking the real fossils more seriously and delayed the reaching of a
correct understanding of human evolution. (The Taung Child,
which should have been the death knell for the view that the human
brain evolved first, was instead treated very critically because of its
disagreement with the Piltdown Man evidence.)
In the case of Prof. Don Poldermans,
the misconduct occurred in reports of trials of treatment to prevent
death and myocardial infarction in patients undergoing operations. The trial reports were relied upon to issue guidelines that applied for many years across North America and Europe.
In the case of Dr Alfred Steinschneider, two decades and tens of
millions of research dollars were lost trying to find the elusive link
between infant sleep apnea, which Steinschneider said he had observed
and recorded in his laboratory, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), of which he stated it was a precursor. The cover was blown in 1994, 22 years after Steinschneider's 1972 Pediatrics paper claiming such an association, when Waneta Hoyt,
the mother of the patients in the paper, was arrested, indicted and
convicted on five counts of second-degree murder for the smothering
deaths of her five children.
While that in itself was bad enough, the paper, presumably written as
an attempt to save infants' lives, ironically was ultimately used as a
defense by parents suspected in multiple deaths of their own children in
cases of Münchausen syndrome by proxy. The 1972 Pediatrics paper was cited in 404 papers in the interim and is still listed on PubMed without comment.
Consequences for those who expose misconduct
The
potentially severe consequences for individuals who are found to have
engaged in misconduct also reflect on the institutions that host or
employ them and also on the participants in any peer review process that
has allowed the publication of questionable research. This means that a
range of actors in any case may have a motivation to suppress any
evidence or suggestion of misconduct. Persons who expose such cases,
commonly called whistleblowers, find themselves open to retaliation by a number of different means.
These negative consequences for exposers of misconduct have driven the
development of whistle blowers charters – designed to protect those who
raise concerns (for more details refer to retaliation (law)).
Regulatory Violations and Consequences (example)
Title 10 Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) Part 50.5, Deliberate Misconduct of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
regulations, addresses the prohibition of certain activities by
individual involved in NRC-licensed activities. 10 CFR 50.5 is designed
to ensure the safety and integrity of nuclear operations. 10 CFR Part 50.9, Completeness and Accuracy of Information,
focuses on the requirements for providing information and data to the
NRC. The intent of 10 CFR 50.5 is to deter and penalize intentional
wrongdoing (i.e., violations). 10 CFR 50.9 is crucial in maintaining
transparency and reliability in the nuclear
industry, which effectively emphasizes honesty and integrity in
maintaining the safety and security of nuclear operations. Providing
false or misleading information or data to the NRC is therefore a
violation of 10 CFR 50.9.
Violation of any of these rules can lead to severe penalties, including termination, fines and criminal prosecution. It can also result in the revocation
of licenses or certifications, thereby barring individuals or entities
from participating in any NRC-licensed activities in the future.
Data issues
Exposure of fraudulent data
With the advancement of the internet, there are now several tools available to aid in the detection of plagiarism and multiple publication within biomedical literature. One tool developed in 2006 by researchers in Dr. Harold Garner's laboratory at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is Déjà vu,
an open-access database containing several thousand instances of
duplicate publication. All of the entries in the database were
discovered through the use of text data mining algorithm eTBLAST, also created in Dr. Garner's laboratory. The creation of Déjà vu
and the subsequent classification of several hundred articles contained
therein have ignited much discussion in the scientific community
concerning issues such as ethical behavior, journal standards, and intellectual copyright. Studies within this database have been published in journals such as Nature and Science, among others.
Other tools which may be used to detect fraudulent data include error analysis.
Measurements generally have a small amount of error, and repeated
measurements of the same item will generally result in slight
differences in readings. These differences can be analyzed, and follow
certain known mathematical and statistical properties. Should a set of
data appear to be too faithful to the hypothesis, i.e., the amount of
error that would normally be in such measurements does not appear, a
conclusion can be drawn that the data may have been forged. Error
analysis alone is typically not sufficient to prove that data have been
falsified or fabricated, but it may provide the supporting evidence
necessary to confirm suspicions of misconduct.
Data sharing
Kirby Lee and Lisa Bero
suggest, "Although reviewing raw data can be difficult, time-consuming
and expensive, having such a policy would hold authors more accountable
for the accuracy of their data and potentially reduce scientific fraud
or misconduct."
Underreporting
The vast majority of cases of scientific misconduct may not be reported. The number of article retractions in 2022 was nearly 5,500, but Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus, co-founders of Retraction Watch, estimate that at least 100,000 retractions should occur every year, with only about one in five being due to "honest error".
The claims in Wakefield's paper were widely reported, leading to a sharp drop in vaccination rates in the UK and Ireland and outbreaks of mumps and measles. Promotion of the claimed link continues to fuel the anti-vaccination movement.
In 2011 Diederik Stapel, a highly regarded Dutch social psychologist was discovered to have fabricated data in dozens of studies on human behaviour. He has been called "the biggest con man in academic science".
In 2020, Sapan Desai and his coauthors published two papers in the prestigious medical journals The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. The papers were based on a very large dataset published by Surgisphere, a company owned by Desai. The dataset was exposed as a fabrication, and the papers were soon retracted.
In 2024, Eliezer Masliah, head of the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging,
was suspected of having manipulated and inappropriately reused images
in over 100 scientific papers spanning several decades, including those
that were used by the FDA to greenlight testing for the experimental
drug prasinezumab as a treatment for Parkinson's.
Solutions
Changing research assessment
Since 2012, the Declaration on Research Assessment
(DORA), from San Francisco, gathered many institutions, publishers, and
individuals committing to improving the metrics used to assess research
and to stop focusing on the journal impact factor.
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