Medical journal fires editors over erroneous publications

A Chinese-language medical journal said on Tuesday that it has dismissed editors involved in processing old papers claiming multiple cases of uterine fibroids in male patients.

Media reports of research papers that recruited male patients with uterine fibroids — tumors that grow in a woman's womb — emerged on Monday, drawing ridicule and ire from netizens who questioned how such a blatant, plain error could have gone unnoticed during academic reviews.

Among several papers containing such errors, two were published in the Guide of China Medicine, a trimonthly medical magazine managed by China Healthcare Association, in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

Publisher of the magazine said in a statement that the errors were due to loopholes in the journal's peer-review process and disregard for academic integrity among some of its editors and reviewers.

It said that its reviewers failed to conduct a rigorous and thorough examination of the paper's content and did not detect the errors in a timely manner. They also lacked a strong sense of responsibility and a deep understanding of the significance of academic integrity and failed to strictly adhere to academic publishing standards and requirements in their work.

Involved editors have been dismissed, it said.

The publisher added that it has improved its review procedures, strengthened training and established a supervision system to spot academic misconduct promptly.