Wu JZ, Williams GR, Li HY, et al. Int J Nanomedicine. 2017;12:4037—4057. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S132984
We, the authors, Editor and Publisher of the International Journal of Nanomedicine, have retracted the published article.
After publication, concerns were raised by a third party about the integrity of the data in Figure 4 and Figure 9 of the article. Further investigations conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed the following:
Figure 4 includes unusual similarities within the TEM micrographs of the nanoparticles.
Figure 9 includes unexpected similarities between the image panels representative of different samples.
The Publisher queried the authors about these concerns and the authors have fully cooperated with the investigation. The authors explained that these experiments described in Figure 4 of the article were outsourced. However, this outsourced work was not declared at submission or in the published article. The authors have explained that the errors in Figure 9 occurred due to poor data management practices. The authors have provided the original data, but the data integrity concerns remain unaddressed.
As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed.
We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.