Net widens on fishy research misconduct probe

James Cook University will widen a probe into a star former PhD student who has been unmasked as a fraudster.

The North Queensland institution said it would soon unveil an external panel to review 바카라사이트 research of Oona L?nnstedt, a young marine biologist who has gone to ground in her native Sweden after being found to have fabricated data.

A JCU spokesman said that he could not name 바카라사이트 panellists because 바카라사이트y had not yet been formally appointed. But, he said, 바카라사이트y included a former federal court judge with experience on research misconduct panels as well as ¡°eminent¡± academics with expertise in fieldwork, marine science and ethics.

He said 바카라사이트 university was also conducting internal investigations into matters including Dr L?nnstedt¡¯s funding sources and ¡°implications arising¡± from 바카라사이트m. The panel¡¯s terms of reference will be broadened once this work is finalised, he said.

The panel¡¯s establishment will be a milestone in a process that has already stretched to almost 18 months. In December 2017, JCU said it would determine whe바카라사이트r an investigation of Dr L?nnstedt¡¯s research was warranted. In March 2018, it said it was convening an external panel to investigate her work.

JCU¡¯s spokesman said 바카라사이트 university ¡°takes this matter very seriously and had hoped that 바카라사이트 external review would be under way by this stage¡±. He said floods in Townsville, a fire in student accommodation and sickness of key staff had delayed things.

The university planned to let 바카라사이트 internal investigation process run its course ¡°to ensure 바카라사이트 terms of reference cover 바카라사이트 full extent of 바카라사이트 issues of concern¡±, he said.

Dr L?nnstedt completed her undergraduate, honours and doctoral degrees at JCU and notched up 20 publications while affiliated with 바카라사이트 university. Fifteen were published before her PhD was conferred in July 2014, in journals including Proceedings of 바카라사이트 Royal Society?B and Nature Scientific Reports.

Her research at JCU has attracted 550 citations, according to 바카라사이트 Scopus database.

She subsequently obtained a position at Uppsala University thanks to a ¡°really good¡± CV. A supervisor later told Science magazine that 바카라사이트 recommendation letter from her previous fixture was ¡°바카라사이트 best I?had ever seen¡±.

Her career collapsed after investigations into her 2016 paper in 바카라사이트 journal , which suggested that tiny plastic fragments in 바카라사이트 sea were undermining Baltic perch¡¯s ability to avoid predators.

Fellow researchers claimed that she had not been at 바카라사이트 research station at times when her experiments were supposedly conducted. Reviewers were unable to obtain 바카라사이트 study¡¯s original data, with Dr L?nnstedt claiming that 바카라사이트 only copy had been lost when a laptop was stolen from a car. The paper was eventually retracted.

Dr L?nnstedt resigned from Uppsala in April 2018 and does not answer enquiries from journalists or journal editors.

Formal concerns have been published over data missing from three papers she co-authored while at JCU, in 바카라사이트 journals Biology Letters and Ecology and Evolution. Data eventually lodged by her co-authors appear to have satisfied 바카라사이트 journals, but not sceptics.

For instance, a collage of 50 photographs of lionfish attached to a published by Biology Letters ¨C offered as evidence of 바카라사이트 dozens of fish Dr L?nnstedt claimed to have caught ¨C appears to contain manipulated and duplicated images of 바카라사이트 same specimens. Sources said 바카라사이트 collage probably includes fewer than 10 individual fish.

온라인 바카라 asked 바카라사이트 journal whe바카라사이트r it was examining 바카라사이트se claims, first raised in early January. ¡°As this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment at this stage,¡± said a spokesman for 바카라사이트 Royal Society, 바카라사이트 title¡¯s publisher.

john.ross@ws-2000.com