[cardcrimson]

Perhaps it's just me, but there seems to be a difference between making a mistake and publishing images that had been digitally altered. 

MTL reported all three of the known issues in the articles he was a senior author on. Cell told him “no big deal” and didn’t bother with a correction.  Science apparently accepted corrections to the two articles he had with them, but due to an issue at the journal, never published the errata.

I do wonder if this scandal would be a lot different if those errata had been published.

BC

I am a business person and not a scientist so I know very little about this world.  I would welcome someone to correct me.

Mistakes are going to be made.  That is just the way the world works.  But if someone is willing to correct their mistakes it speaks to both their intent originally and their focus on doing what is right even if it is embarrassing to them.

To me there are only two questions here:

Are these mistakes so obvious that it speaks to MTL's basic abilities as a researcher and scientist?

Did he really try to correct the record as soon as he became aware of the issues or at some later date to cover himself?

On the one hand, he should probably step aside while this is all sorted out.  On the other, assuming he did the right things this is potentially really grossly unfair to him.

I guess time will tell....

[cardcrimson]

Perhaps it's just me, but there seems to be a difference between making a mistake and publishing images that had been digitally altered. 

MTL reported all three of the known issues in the articles he was a senior author on. Cell told him “no big deal” and didn’t bother with a correction.  Science apparently accepted corrections to the two articles he had with them, but due to an issue at the journal, never published the errata.

I do wonder if this scandal would be a lot different if those errata had been published.

BC

I am a business person and not a scientist so I know very little about this world.  I would welcome someone to correct me.

Mistakes are going to be made.  That is just the way the world works.  But if someone is willing to correct their mistakes it speaks to both their intent originally and their focus on doing what is right even if it is embarrassing to them.

To me there are only two questions here:

Are these mistakes so obvious that it speaks to MTL's basic abilities as a researcher and scientist?

Did he really try to correct the record as soon as he became aware of the issues or at some later date to cover himself?

On the one hand, he should probably step aside while this is all sorted out.  On the other, assuming he did the right things this is potentially really grossly unfair to him.

I guess time will tell....