The Retraction Watch blog, chronicler of scientific publishing twistyness, reports:
Warts and all: Derm pub retracts plantar paper after author cries foul
The Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology has retracted a paper it published earlier this year online by authors from Zagazig, a town on the Nile… As for the substance of the study, [journal editor Bruce] Thiers said:
Dr. Gamil [the lead author] claims the study is valid but the figures in question were from a patient who was not part of the study. Plantar warts are inherently difficult to treat, so if this treatment is effective it would be a significant advance.
We’ve tried to reach Gamil, but haven’t yet managed to contact her. We’d love to ask her how her name came to be on the paper when she didn’t put it there. We’d also like to know how she can be convinced of the validity of the findings when not only was her name forged but an image manipulated—and the image came from a patient who she maintains was not in the study.