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Perspective

The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications

Elisabeth M. Bik, Arturo Casadevall, Ferric C. Fang
L. David Sibley, Editor
Elisabeth M. Bik
aDepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA
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Arturo Casadevall
bDepartment of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
cDepartment of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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Ferric C. Fang
dDepartments of Laboratory Medicine and Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA
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L. David Sibley
Washington University School of Medicine
Roles: Editor
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DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00809-16
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ABSTRACT

Inaccurate data in scientific papers can result from honest error or intentional falsification. This study attempted to determine the percentage of published papers that contain inappropriate image duplication, a specific type of inaccurate data. The images from a total of 20,621 papers published in 40 scientific journals from 1995 to 2014 were visually screened. Overall, 3.8% of published papers contained problematic figures, with at least half exhibiting features suggestive of deliberate manipulation. The prevalence of papers with problematic images has risen markedly during the past decade. Additional papers written by authors of papers with problematic images had an increased likelihood of containing problematic images as well. As this analysis focused only on one type of data, it is likely that the actual prevalence of inaccurate data in the published literature is higher. The marked variation in the frequency of problematic images among journals suggests that journal practices, such as prepublication image screening, influence the quality of the scientific literature.

  • Copyright © 2016 Bik et al.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

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The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications
Elisabeth M. Bik, Arturo Casadevall, Ferric C. Fang
mBio Jun 2016, 7 (3) e00809-16; DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00809-16

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The Prevalence of Inappropriate Image Duplication in Biomedical Research Publications
Elisabeth M. Bik, Arturo Casadevall, Ferric C. Fang
mBio Jun 2016, 7 (3) e00809-16; DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00809-16
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