BioMed Research International has retracted the article titled “Abnormal COX2 Protein Expression may be Correlated with Poor Prognosis in Oral Cancer: A Meta-Analysis” [1] due to the inclusion in the meta-analysis of an article cited as reference 22 that was retracted in 2007 for containing fabricated data [2].
In addition, this meta-analysis includes phrases characteristic of a series of very similar meta-analyses written by different authors that were published in 2014 and 2015 [3]. Egger's test was conducted with fewer than 10 studies, limiting its validity.
The authors and their institution did not respond.
References
- 1.Wang Z.-M., Liu J., Liu H.-B., Ye M., Zhang Y.-F., Yang D.-S. Abnormal COX2 Protein Expression May Be Correlated with Poor Prognosis in Oral Cancer: A Meta-Analysis. BioMed Research International. 2014;2014:9. doi: 10.1155/2014/364207.364207 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Retracted]
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- 3.Filion G. A flurry of copycats on PubMed. The Grand Locus; 2014. http://blog.thegrandlocus.com/2014/10/a-flurry-of-copycats-on-pubmed. [Google Scholar]