The Funding Statement for this article [1, 2] states that the study received funding from the Smoking Research Foundation, which according to [3] has received financial support from the tobacco industry. In light of this issue the PLOS ONE article [1] does not comply with the journal’s policy on Funding from Tobacco Companies [4] which was implemented in 2010. Therefore, the PLOS ONE Editors issue this Expression of Concern.
We regret that this concern was not identified and addressed prior to the article’s [1, 2] publication.
References
- 1.Saito Y, Suzuki H, Tsugawa H, Imaeda H, Matsuzaki J, Hirata K, et al. (2012) Overexpression of miR-142-5p and miR-155 in Gastric Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT) Lymphoma Resistant to Helicobacter pylori Eradication. PLoS ONE 7(11): e47396. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047396 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Saito Y, Suzuki H, Tsugawa H, Imaeda H, Matsuzaki J, et al. (2013) Correction: Overexpression of miR-142-5p and miR-155 in Gastric Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT) Lymphoma Resistant to Helicobacter pylori Eradication. PLoS ONE 8(7): doi: 10.1371/annotation/53d1898f-d0ae-4e5c-a585-c084a5c881bf [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Iida K, Proctor RN. (2018) ‘The industry must be inconspicuous’: Japan Tobacco’s corruption of science and health policy via the Smoking Research Foundation. Tobacco Control 27:e3–e11. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2017-053971 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/disclosure-of-funding-sources#loc-funding-from-tobacco-companies