I have to say that that discussion was one of the most compelling I've seen. I have been thinking about it for months.
Zeno Franco, PhD
Assistant Professor - Community Engagement
Department of Family & Community Medicine
Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Medical College of Wisconsin
(414) 955-4372 (direct)
From: aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org [mailto:aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org] On Behalf Of Galletta, Dennis
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2012 9:28 AM
To: AISWorld at lists.aisnet.org
Subject: [AISWorld] Self-Plagiarism, retracted papers, and collateral damage
Dear IS Community:
Following up on last year's discussion of the so-called "Self-Plagiarism" concept (regardless of what it is called), three publications by an extremely successful business professor from U. of Mannheim have been retracted by two journals, including the journal Research Policy. That journal is ranked 2nd in a 2004 article on Ranking Technology Innovation Management Journals. For details, there is an article posted at the following link:
http://economicsintelligence.com/2012/07/19/top-flight-german-business-prof-faces-severe-accusations-of-academic-misconduct/
The news article has some very interesting reader comments as well. An alarming entry names several other papers and top researchers and accuses them of self-plagiarism as well but admits he/she has not read the papers in depth. This is not a calm situation, to be sure.
Note that the reasons for the retractions also include "severe mathematical errors and methodological inconsistencies." If you're interested in what retracted articles look like, follow these links to two examples:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004873330800228X
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733309002169
What is not in this article is some "collateral damage." I know of a strategy professor and his colleagues who had a Revise and Resubmit in the same journal. They were very responsive to the reviews, completely rewriting the paper and doing extensive re-analysis for the 2nd round. Unfortunately, some of it was based on a concept of "desorptive capacity" that appeared in the retracted papers. The paper has now been rejected because the retraction destroyed the basis for some of the arguments.
As the bar continues to climb on publication requirements, faculty might be becoming more desperate than ever. But the collateral damage is of grave concern. Months of work would suddenly become wasted due to the actions of others.
DG
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Dennis F. Galletta Professor of Business Administration
University of Pittsburgh and Director, Katz Doctoral Program
282a Mervis Hall Katz Graduate School of Business
Phone +1 412-648-1699 Pittsburgh, PA 15260
E-mail: galletta @ Fax +1 412-648-1693
katz.pitt.edu homepage: www.pitt.edu/~galletta<http://www.pitt.edu/~galletta>
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