Journal of BUON最近有点烦，12篇中国论文遭PubPeer质疑学术不端

希腊是个神奇的国度，先有IJMM和MMR等众多黑名单期刊之流，现在这个名字很个性的刊物恐怕也要因为这些水货论文而惨遭各个单位拉黑了。简单瞅了一眼它的影响因子，分虽然不高，但是却也是稳步发展的。只是这个自引率也让人堪忧啊！

接着说遭质疑的论文，这些论文的问题还是老生常谈的那几种情况：1. 图片在自己的文章中重复使用；2. 图片在不同作者的论文里重复使用；3. 图片PS！也有多种组合的...

1. Alantolactone exhibits selective antitumor effects in HELA human cervical cancer cells by inhibiting cell migration and invasion, G2/M cell cycle arrest, mitochondrial mediated apoptosis and targeting Nf-kB signalling pathway

Journal of B.U.ON. : official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 1 Comment

pubmed: 31983099 issn: 2241-6293

Yibing Zhang , Yong Zhao , Yongwang Ran , Jianyou Guo , Haifeng Cui , Sha Liu

#1 Hoya Camphorifolia

Figure 3. "Percentage of the apoptotic HeLa cells at indicated concentrations of AL as depicted by annexin V/PI staining. The results indicate that AL increased the percentage of apoptotic cells dose-dependently".

What happed at the bottom left edge of each panel? There are bands of dots, a slightly different red from the rest of the scatterplot, with black pixels showing through between them. I can only think that the original quadrant percentage values have been effaced. Was it necessary to deface the images in this way?

左下角的点是怎么了？红得有点不一样啊！我只能认为是原始的百分数值被抹去了。用这种方法修图有必要吗？（小编在想，这个家伙是不是在质疑作者的造假能力不行，其实可以不用P图，而是...）

2. Inhibition of cancer cell growth in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic carcinoma by mangiferin phytochemical involves induction of autophagy, endogenous ROS production, cell cycle disruption, mitochondrial mediated apoptosis and suppression of cancer cell migration and invasion

Journal of B.U.ON. : official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 1 Comment

pubmed: 31646812 issn: 2241-6293

Lei Yu , Min Chen , Rui Zhang , Zhaohui Jin

#1 Hoya Camphorifolia

Figs 9, 10. "Inhibition of migration of the Mia-PaCa2 cells by mangiferin at indicated concentrations as depicted by transwell assay. The Figure shows that mangiferin treatment led to inhibition of cell migration at 10μM." ... "Inhibition of invasion of the Mia-PaCa2 cells by mangiferin at indicated concentrations as depicted by transwell assay".

Coloured rectangles for comparison with Figures 2 A,B and 4 A,B from Yang, Chen & Wang (2019). "MiR-32 inhibits the migration and invasion of SW948 cells. A, Transwell assay showing cell migration in NC or miR-32 mimics transfected SW-948 cells. B, Transwell assay showing cell migration in NC or miR-32 mimics transfected SW948 cells" ... "Silencing of E2F5 inhibits the migration and invasion of SW-948 cells. A, Transwell assay showing cell migration in NC or Si-E2F5 transfected SW948 cells. B, Transwell assay showing cell migration of NC or Si-E2F5 transfected SW-948 cells".

这个文章中的图片与别人的图片重叠了，谁抄的谁？还是都是从一家公司买的论文？

3. Cinnamolide sesquiterpene lactone suppresses in vitro and in vivo cancer cell growth in cisplatin-resistant human cervical carcinoma cells by inducing mitochondrial mediated apoptosis, caspase activation, loss of MMP and targeting Akt/β-Catenin signaling pathway

Journal of B.U.ON. : official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 7 Comments

pubmed: 32521857 issn: 2241-6293

Jing Hou , Changli Kan , Yanju Zhu , Yi Zhang , Bingfeng Zhou , Chunli Ren , Jiuyuan Fu , Yanwei Guo , Jinhuan Zhang

这篇文章绝对牛！几乎没有没问题的Figure了。

#1 Indigofera Tanganyikensis

In Figure 3, areas in micrographs have been duplicated, manipulated and presented as something else.

某些细胞被P得到处跑，难道是双胞胎？

In Figure 4, an area of a flow cytometry dot plot has been duplicated and presented as something else.

流式图为什么还要P？

In Figure 10, a Western immunoblot panel has been duplicated and presented as something else (AKT VS ACTIN)

Akt与β-actin太像了吧？难道这是传说中的保守性很强！

#2 Hoya Camphorifolia

通讯作者邮箱不是这个作者？

#3 Hoya Camphorifolia

[right] Figure 3 again. "AO/EB dual staining assay for determination of cellular morphology and apoptosis after Cinnamolide treatment to human cervical HeLa cancer cells. The results indicate membrane blebbing, increased number of yellowgreen (early apoptotic cells), orange (late apoptotic cells) and orange-red (necrotic cells) fluorescent cells. Arrows indicate apoptotic cells." I have repeated two panels awith 180-deg flips. Colored rectangles added to show unexpected similarities with...

[left] Figure 6 from Tan et al (2019). "Wogonin triggers apoptosis in SW48 colorectal cancer cells as depicted by AO/EB staining. ... Green arrow indicates early apoptotic cells; blue arrow shows late apoptotic cells; purple arrow shows membrane blebbing; and red arrow shows loss of membrane shape."

跟Tan et al (2019)中的图出乎意料的相似！

转个方向就看不出来了？？？

#4 Hoya Camphorifolia

[right] Figure 3 again. One panel repeated with a 180-deg flip. Colored rectangles added to show unexpected similarity with...

[left] Figure 3 of Tian et al (2019). "Scopoletin induces apoptotic cell death in HeLa cervical cancer cells as depicted by AO/EB staining. Green arrows indicate early apoptotic cells, blue arrows depict late apoptotic cells, purple arrows depict membrane blebbing, yellow arrows depict cells which appear shrunken and red arrows depict loss of membrane shape."

跟上面的操作手段一样

#5 Hoya Camphorifolia

[left] Fig 4 again. Though extensively re-worked, the panels appear to be based on ...

[right] Fig 4 from Zhang et al (2018). "Estimation of apoptotic cell population by annexin V/PI staining at indicated doses of lactucopicrin. ... The results indicate that with increasing doses of the compound, the population of both early and late apoptotic cells increased significantly".

继续P流式图？

UPDATE: Another sighting! Fig 5 from Wang et al (2018). "Estimation of apoptotic cell populations by annexin V/PI staining of HCT-116 cells using flow cytometry...The results revealed that the apoptotic cell populations increased from 3.04% in the controls to 33.9% at 30μM concentration."

终于有个新玩法：把黑白图与彩图相互变一下！放到两篇文章里面！

#6 Hoya Camphorifolia

#3Another sighting! Fig 1D of Wu et al (2020).

再来一个新发现：Wu et al (2020)这个文章也有前面提到的那个图！不同团队之间相互合作，多快好省地发表多篇SCI，绝了！

#7 Hoya Camphorifolia

[left] Figure 2. A: "Clonogenic assay for determination of anticolony potential of Cinnamolide in human cervical HeLa cancer cells. Cinnamolide treatment led to a significant and dose-dependent reduction in the number of cancer cell colonies".

[right] Fig 2A of Li et al (2020). "miR-7 induces apoptosis in TPC-1 cancer cells. A. Colony formation by TPC-1 cells transfected with miRNC and miR-7 mimics". Plus 180-deg-flipped version.

Two panels are repeated.

还有？？？？2020年Li et al发表的文章也用了同样的图？

4. Anticancer effects of juglone in OVCAR-3 human ovarian carcinoma are facilitated through programmed cell death, endogenous ROS production, inhibition of cell migration and invasion and cell cycle arrest

Journal of B.U.ON. : official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 2 Comments

pubmed: 32521867 issn: 2241-6293

Jun-Yu Shi , Zhe Ren Huang , Hong Yan Gao , Xiao Li Xu author has email

#1 Indigofera Tanganyikensis

Figure 7 in this article is fabricated. The same four images have been used in another JBUON paper (DOI: 32521875) in the same issue.

When comparing the two articles, none of the authors are common and the institutions are different. They origin from the same Chinese province though. Together with the strange email addresses, I think these articles have been fabricated by some Chinese papermill.

两篇文章的作者和单位完全不同，还有诡异的邮箱地址，我怀疑这些文章是由某些中国论文作坊生产的！

#2 Hoya Camphorifolia

#1Even without the double publication, internal repetitions within the fourth panel cause concern.

就算没有与其他文章共用图片，第四张图也有修图痕迹。

上面所说的问题已绝对叹为观止了，其他的一些文章的问题就不一一列举。

只列一下相关文章，感兴趣的自己去细查吧！

5. MicroRNA-9 regulatesthe proliferation, migration and invasion of human glioma cells by targetingCDH1

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 1 Comment

pubmed: 32521911 issn: 2241-6293

Yuxian Liu , Li Guo

6. Zingiberene inhibitsin vitro and in vivo human colon cancer cell growth via autophagy induction,suppression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway and caspase 2 deactivation

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 1 Comment

pubmed: 31646793 issn: 2241-6293

Hai Chen , Xiaocheng Tang, Ting Liu , Liang Jing , Junhui Wu

7. Acetylshikonininhibits in vitro and in vivo tumorigenesis in cisplatin-resistant oral cancercells by inducing autophagy, programmed cell death and targeting m-TOR/PI3K/Aktsignalling pathway

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 4 Comments

pubmed: 31786876 issn: 2241-6293

Peng Wang, Weiyue Gao ,Yibin Wang , Jun Wang

8. Angustifoline inhibitshuman colon cancer cell growth by inducing autophagy along withmitochondrial-mediated apoptosis, suppression of cell invasion and migrationand stimulating G2/M cell cycle arrest

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 6 Comments

pubmed: 30941961 issn: 2241-6293

Zheyu Ding , Qingbo Chen,Bin Xiong , Yingli Cun , Hongbo Wang , Mingyao Xu

9. Antiproliferativeactivity of plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) in human gastriccarcinoma cells is facilitated via activation of autophagic pathway,mitochondrial-mediated programmed cell death and inhibition of cell migrationand invasion

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 2 Comments

pubmed: 31786867 issn: 2241-6293

Xiuli Ma , Xiuping Yin ,Hu Liu , Qingming Chen , Yuanzhong Feng , Xiaoyun Ma , Weichang Liu

10. Taxifolin inhibitsthe scar cell carcinoma growth by inducing apoptosis, cell cycle arrest andsuppression of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 2 Comments

pubmed: 31128046 issn: 2241-6293

Wei Zhou , Zeming Liu MinWang Danyang Chen Ling Zhou Liang Guo

11. Inhibition of humancervical cancer cell growth by Salviolone is mediated via autophagy induction,cell migration and cell invasion suppression, G2/M cell cycle arrest anddownregulation of Nf-kB/m-TOR/PI3K/AKT pathway

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 8 Comments

pubmed: 30610802 issn: 1107-0625

Yuening Zhang , Guoxin Li, Chao Ji

12. Over-expression ofTM4SF1 improves cell metastasis and growth by activating ERK1/2 signalingpathway in human prostate cancer

Journal of B.U.ON. :official journal of the Balkan Union of Oncology - 1 Comment

pubmed: 31983129 issn: 2241-6293

Junyi Chen, Fubo Wang ,Huan Xu , Dong Chen , Weihui Liu , Jialiang Wang

最后再来说一句，如果没这些问题，自引率也不那么高，这个期刊可能还是挺适合初入科研坑的小白们投稿的哦！

审稿速度绝对杠杠滴！

Received: 07/10/2019; Accepted: 25/11/2019

Received: 24/10/2019; Accepted: 16/12/2019

Received: 16/03/2020; Accepted: 05/04/2020

Received: 06/03/2020; Accepted: 08/04/2020

Received: 21/02/2020; Accepted: 28/03/2020

哎，这么好的一个期刊眼看着就要糟践了...一帮没节操的人要糟践它，它也没有洁身自好，太可惜了