View source for Retractions and Fraud

Fraudulent or erroneous structures usually take many years to be removed from the [[PDB]], and some remain uncorrected <ref name="rupp2016">PMID: 27229767</ref> <ref name="wlodawer2017">PMID: 29113027</ref> <ref name="dauter2014">PMID: 25075337</ref>.

Problematic PDB entries that need to be addressed in a future revision of the article below are documented in
<ref name="rupp2016" /> <ref name="wlodawer2017" /> <ref name="dauter2014" />
<ref name="ji1">PMID: 26747564</ref>
<ref name="ji2">PMID: 26747567</ref>.

A number of [[PDB]] entries have been retracted<ref name="wwpdb-retractions">[http://www.wwpdb.org/UAB.html wwPDB Statement on Retraction of PDB Entries].</ref>, either due to fraud or honest mistakes. Retractions can be searched for at the [http://retractiondatabase.org/RetractionSearch.aspx Retraction Database] of [http://retractionwatch.com RetractionWatch.com], which also contains ''Corrections'' and ''Expressions of Concern''. Concerns about published structures may also be expressed at the post-publication peer review site [http://pubpeer.com PubPeer.com].

Some historic errors and clearly incorrect PDB depositions are described by Wlodawer ''et al.'', 2008<ref>PMID:18034855</ref>.

* 2019, February: The history and results of the fraud findings for '''H. Krishna Murthy''' (see 2009 below) are summarized in ''Conclusion of ORI Misconduct Review Results in Obsoletion of PDB Structures, Paper Retractions''<ref name="murthyConclusion">[http://www.wwpdb.org/news/news?year=2019 Conclusion of ORI Misconduct Review Results in Obsoletion of PDB Structures, Paper Retractions].</ref>.
* 2016, April: ''Nature'' formally retracts [[2hr0]]<ref>PMID:
 26727161</ref>. See 2009 below.

* 2014, October: '''Bijan Ahvazi''', formerly the Director of the Laboratory of X-ray Crystallography, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), National Institutes of Health, USA, was found to have falsified data in several publications<ref name='ahvazi'>[http://ori.hhs.gov/content/case-summary-ahvazi-bijan Case Summary: Ahvazi, Bijan. Office of Research Integrity, October 2014.]</ref>. Ahvazi is the sole author for PDB entries [[1l9m]], [[1l9n]], [[1nud]], [[1nug]], [[1nuf]], first author of [[1eyy]], [[1ez0]], and coauthor of [[1yue]], [[1tg6]], and [[1by4]]. Ahvazi was subsequently [https://retractionwatch.com/2015/01/26/exclusive-former-nih-lab-head-faked-data-now-working-government-patent-examiner/ employed as a US patent examiner].

* 2012, February: [[3k78]] was removed from the [[PDB]] because it appears to be fraudlent<ref>PMID: 22552066</ref><ref>[http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/protein-structure-retracted-after-investigation-into-highly-improbable-features-journal-calls-it-fraud/ Protein structure retracted after investigation into “highly improbable features,” journal calls it fraud], April 2012</ref>. Subsequently, '''Robert Schwarzenbacher''' confessed to data fabrication, and was fired from his position at the University of Salzburg in Austria<ref>[http://retractionwatch.com/category/by-author/robert-schwarzenbacher/ Retraction Watch: Archive for Robert Schwarzenbacher].</ref>. In April 2013, the ''Journal of Immunology'' retracted the crystallographic results in the original 2010 article<ref>[http://www.jimmunol.org/content/190/8/4432.full Correction: Antigen aggregation decides the fate of the allergic immune response].</ref>.

* 2012, January: [[2hlb]] was retracted by the authors<ref>[http://www.pnas.org/content/109/5/1808.2.full.pdf+html Retraction of 2hlb by PNAS].</ref>.

* 2009, December:  Several entries authored by '''H.M. Krishna Murthy''' were removed from the [[PDB]] as they appear to be fraudulent. <!--Those already removed, as well as those for which removal is pending, are listed at [[Template:Murthy_fraud|Murthy fraud]].
See also this list of [[Template:Possible_fraud|possibly fraudlent]] entries co-authored by Murthy.--> See the statement by the Worldwide PDB<ref name="wwpdb-retractions" /> and the discussion of fraud<ref>[https://lists.sdsc.edu/pipermail/pdb-l/2009-December/004991.html Discussion of fraud on the PDB email list].</ref> on the PDB email list, and ''Fraud rocks protein community'' in ''Nature''<ref>PMID: 20033014</ref>. An official statement by the University of Alabama<ref>[http://www.uab.edu/reporterarchive/71570-uab-statement-on-protein-data-bank-issues Official statement by the University of Alabama on fraudlent PDB entries by H. M. Krishna Murthy]. Thanks to [[User:Peter A. Keller]] for providing this updated link on May 16, 2014.</ref> recommended retraction of [[1bef]], [[1cmw]], [[1df9]], [[2qid]], [[1g40]], [[1g44]], [[1l6l]], [[2ou1]], [[1rid]], [[1y8e]], [[2a01]], and [[2hr0]] (see 2016 above for the formal retraction of 2hr0). This statement includes detailed information about the analysis of each entry by outside experts. In addition, the reliability of [[1bgx]], [[1ay1]], [[1hef]], [[1heg]], [[1sbg]], [[1hps]], and [[1hos]] have been called into question since they were co-authored by H. M. Krishna Murthy. See also the Office of Research Integrity Misconduct Review Results<ref name="murthyConclusion" /> under 2019 above.

* 2007: '''Geoffrey Chang'''<ref>See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chang Geoffrey Chang at Wikipedia].</ref> and colleagues retracted five PDB entries<ref>PMID: 17185570</ref><ref>[http://www.sciencemag.org/content/314/5807/1856.summary Summary of Miller article in Science (previous citation)]</ref>. The structures had major errors originating in part from an error in one of the software programs used<ref>Jeffrey, Philip D., [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631635/ Analysis of errors in the structure determination of MsbA] (open access). Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. 2009 February 1; 65(Pt 2): 193–199. [http://dx.crossref.org/10.1107%2FS0907444909001292 doi:  10.1107/S0907444909001292].</ref>. When the errors came to light, the authors immediately admitted the problem and retracted the affected publications. The retracted structures were [[1jsq]], [[1pf4]], [[1z2r]], [[1s7b]], and [[2f2m]]. Brian Matthews<ref name='inverted-or-incorrect'>PMID: 17473006</ref> explains that it should have been immediately clear that the electron density maps were incorrect:

::"If F+ and F− are interchanged, there are situations in which an inverted electron density map could result, but obtaining such a map should immediately signal that an error had occurred." "Where anomalous scattering data are included, as for the MsbA structure determination, the situation should never arise that one would need to choose between the correct map and its inverted image." "Extraordinarily high values of [[R value|R]] and [[Rfree]] were obtained [by Chang and Roth, 2001<ref>PMID: 11546864</ref>] for the single model refinement of MsbA but were discounted ...." (Quotations from Matthews, 2007<ref name='inverted-or-incorrect' />)



==See Also==
*[[Quality assessment for molecular models]]
*[https://retractionwatch.com/2016/05/20/structural-biology-corrections-highlight-best-of-the-scientific-process/ Structural biology corrections highlight best of the scientific process] by Jeffrey Perkel, 2016.
*[http://retractiondatabase.org/RetractionSearch.aspx Searchable Retraction Database] of [http://retractionwatch.com RetractionWatch.com].
* Post-publication reviews at [http://pubpeer.com PubPeer.com].

==References==
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