Ciência auto-limpante

Saiu hoje uma retratação na importante revista Europhysics Letters de um artigo que estava sob investigação de plágio, demonstrando o processo de auto-correção, que eu chamo auto-limpante, da ciência. Instrutivo...

Infelizmente não é um fato isolado...

Atualização (07/04/11): acabou de sair na Science (o link pode não ser acessível para todos) um comentário sobre um caso tupiniquim:

Alleged Fraud Spurs New Scientific Integrity Commission

Brazil's science ministry will create a commission on scientific integrity after Elsevier said it would retract 11 papers, the senior author of which is Claudio Airoldi, 68, a chemist at the State University of Campinas, known as Unicamp.

Elsevier launched an investigation after receiving complaints about the work; a review by three independent experts concluded the papers contained forged nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. Both Airoldi, who has co-authored over 400 papers, and Denis Guerra, the first author on the retracted papers, denied the accusations. Guerra, now at the Federal University of Mato Grosso, was quoted in the Brazilian press as saying, “There is no need for a Unicamp researcher to fabricate data. It's an absurd accusation.”

Although the retraction of the thinly cited papers is unlikely to have much scientific impact, it could change the way fraud allegations are handled in Brazil. Brazil's key funding agency, the National Council for Scientific and Technology Development, has so far left fraud probes to universities. Now, officials in Brasilia say they will create their own investigative body. Airoldi, who holds the agency's highest ranking, was suspended from reviewing federal grants until investigations are complete.