After this article [1] was published, it came to light that the study design, patient information, and attenuation imaging (ATI) results reported in [1] were published previously in [2]. There is also substantial text overlap between the two articles. The earlier publication [2] evaluated the accuracy of ATI in evaluating liver steatosis, whereas the PLOS ONE article [1] compared the accuracy of ATI and controlled attenuation parameter in evaluating liver steatosis.
This issue was discussed with the authors. The first author acknowledged that the same cohort of patients and ATI data is reported in both articles [1,2]. While the articles address different research questions, the reuse of content was not acknowledged in [1]. Hence, the article does not adhere to the journal’s second publication criterion or PLOS’ Editorial policies pertaining to text reuse and publication of related studies, and concerns remain regarding partial redundancy of the two articles [1,2].
The ethics approval number (210202) in [1] is also reported in several articles by some of the same authors, including [3–7], which describe studies and patient cohorts different to those reported in [1]. Additionally, discrepancies were identified between the description of the study design in [1] and the ethics approval documentation provided during discussions.
The first author stated that the same approval number (210202) was obtained for multiple different studies [1,3–7] as the applications for approval for all the studies were made to the IRB together. They also acknowledged that the study described in [1] was retrospective, which conflicts with the description of the study design in [1]. The editors remain concerned regarding the approval of multiple different studies together and that the study design is not accurately reported in [1].
Due to the concerns regarding the reuse of text and data, the PLOS ONE Editors retract this article.
WWS, PYS, and CLW agreed with the retraction. WWS stands by the article’s findings. CLW apologizes for the issues with the published article. PKH, LSW, YYC, YCH, and HHY either did not respond directly or could not be reached.
References
- 1.Hsu P-K, Wu L-S, Su W-W, Su P-Y, Chen Y-Y, Hsu Y-C, et al. (2021) Comparing the controlled attenuation parameter using FibroScan and attenuation imaging with ultrasound as a novel measurement for liver steatosis. PLoS ONE 16(10): e0254892. 10.1371/journal.pone.0254892 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Retracted]
- 2.Hsu P-K, Wu L-S, Yen H-H, Huang HP, Chen Y-Y, Su P-Y, et al. (2021) Attenuation Imaging with Ultrasound as a Novel Evaluation Method for Liver Steatosis. Journal of Clinical Medicine 10(5):965. 10.3390/jcm10050965 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Chang W-J, Tsao L-C, Yen H-H, Yang C-W, Lin J, Lin K-H (2021) Endoscopic Resection for Gastric Subepithelial Tumor with Backup Laparoscopic Surgery: Description of a Single-Center Experience. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 10(19):4423. 10.3390/jcm10194423 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.Hsiao S-W, Chen M-W, Yang C-W, Lin K-H, Chen Y-Y, Kor C-T, et al. (2021) A Nomogram for Predicting Laparoscopic and Endoscopic Cooperative Surgery during the Endoscopic Resection of Subepithelial Tumors of the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract. Diagnostics 11(11):2160. 10.3390/diagnostics11112160 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5.Wu T-L, Yen H-H, Huang S-P, Chen Y-Y (2022) Glasgow coma scale score and albumin level are associated with patient survival after emergent colonoscopy in the intensive care unit. Adv Dig Med 1:7. 10.1002/aid2.13326 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
- 6.Hsu P-K, Su P-Y, Wu C-L (2022) Analysis of antiviral efficacy after switching from brand to generic entecavir in patients with treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B. BMC Gastroenterol 22, 228. 10.1186/s12876-022-02317-7 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Retracted]
- 7.Hsu P-K, Wu C-L, Yang Y-H, Wei JC-C (2022) Effect of Intragastric Botulinum Type A Injection Combined with a Low-Calorie High-Protein Diet in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 11(12):3325. 10.3390/jcm11123325 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]