---
title: "List of scientific misconduct incidents"
chunk: 5/9
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientific_misconduct_incidents"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:24:57.942917+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Wakefield's claims of a link between the MMR vaccine, autism and inflammatory bowel disease have been reported in the British Medical Journal as "based not on bad science but on a deliberate fraud", and the 1998 paper originally presenting his theory was retracted in 2010 by The Lancet. Wakefield was unsuccessful in an attempt to sue detractors/critics for libel and defamation. Wakefield has had two papers retracted and one corrected. Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories fabricated research data to the extent that upon FDA analysis of 867 studies, 618 (71%) were deemed invalid, including many of which were used to gain regulatory approval for widely used household and industrial products. The company Surgisphere claimed to have hospital data which was used to support studies of the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in treating COVID-19. Papers in the Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine were retracted in June 2020 when the data was found to be implausible. The National Centre for Biological Sciences, one of India's top research institutes and part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, retracted one of its breakthrough scientific papers in 2021 describing the discovery of iron-sensing RNA after its findings and images were found to be manipulated. Eliezer Masliah (US), head of the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging, was suspected in 2024 of having manipulated and inappropriately reused images in over 100 scientific papers spanning several decades, including those that were used by the FDA to greenlight testing for the experimental drug prasinezumab as a treatment for Parkinson's. Berislav Zlokovic (Serbia, US), a prominent neuroscientist at the University of Southern California, was placed on leave in 2023 amid concerns of scientific misconduct. Investigations revealed that several of his studies, which had generated promising data on Alzheimer's and stroke treatments, were under scrutiny for potential data manipulation. These studies formed the basis for drugs developed by ZZ Biotech, a company co-founded by Zlokovic. The allegations raised significant concerns about the validity of the research and the efficacy of the associated treatments. This narrative is a key component of Charles Piller's book, Doctored, which was published in 2025. Deborah F. Kelly
Michael Briggs