Marty Hinz, MD Retraction Home Page
Caused not by the authors
Publishing company errors caused the retractions
This website discusses the cause of 20 peer-reviewed papers being retracted. It emphasizes that the retractions were due to publishing errors by Dove Press and Taylor and Francis, not because of scientific validity concerns. Websites like Quackwatch and Retractionwatch are criticized for publishing unbalanced accounts without proper investigation. The University of Minnesota Medical School, the eleven medical doctors, and the 33 peer-reviewers were not responsible for the publishing errors that led to the retractions.
The following issues lead to retraction.
- IRB CERTIFICATE: This controversy arose because the authors had obtained a valid Independent Review Board (IRB) certificate from the University of Minnesota Medical School. However, Dove Press did not maintain this document in its files as it was required to.
- CONLICT OF INTEREST: In 2014, Dove Press investigated Stephen Barrett’s conflict-of-interest complaint and found no violations. Barrett later filed another complaint about the same issue in 2018, omitting mention of the outcome of the previous investigation.
The medical publishing controversy occurred after Taylor Francis bought out the original publisher, Dove Press, in September 2017 , and then in 2020 retracted twenty peer-reviewed papers published by Dove Press between 2009 and 2014. These papers involved collaborations between the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth, eleven medical doctors, and more than 30 peer reviewers. This summary notes that the Stephen Barrett complaint, which initiated these events, lacked balanced reporting by not interviewing criticized subjects.
ISSUES THE RETRACTIONS RESTED ON
- Independent Review Board Certificate (IRB) – This website documents issues surrounding Dove Press’s publications from 2009-2014, specifically Dove Press’ failure to properly collect and maintain the IRB certificate issued by the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth Research Committee. This resulted in Francis Taylor retracting several of the Dove Press published papers.
- Conflict of Interest Disclosure regarding Marty Hinz, MD – In 2014, Barrett filed a conflict-of-interest complaint with Dove Press against Hinz, but publisher Tim Hill investigated and found these claims meritless (see Hill’s email below). In 2018, Barrett filed a similar complaint with Taylor-Francis (the new owners of Dove Press) despite the previous resolution.
