Science journalism by Leonid Schneider, on research integrity and academic publishing in life sciences and biomedicine
University of Ferrara rejected a journalist’s FOI request about the investigation of its own Rector. The arguments: the media is biased and drives a slander campaign against Giorgio Zauli, and in any case, his research can only be evaluated in a “Science Court” by peer review.
Two old gynaecology professors in Milan decided to racially profile, then rate their misinformed young patients for sexual attractiveness. Their even published this as an evo-psych study in a respected society journal.
Meet two grand cancer researchers from Milan: Pier Paolo Di Fiore and Pier Giuseppe Pelicci. Then decide if you want to give them your tax and charity money.
Cancer researcher Giorgio Zauli publicly declared himself exonerated because he simply forbids his University of Ferrara to publish the investigative report. The ultra-right connected rector used the occasion to equal his critics to Nazis and to announce defamation lawsuits.
Arturo Casadevall is probably the most recognized expert for research integrity, author of many peer reviewed papers on that topic. But now his own publications on microbiology and immunity are under scrutiny.
Manchester scientist Chiara Francavilla discovered duplicated images in her older papers and submitted correction requests to Molecular Cell and JCB, only to be ignored.
On 27 December 2018, I received an email from the Italian Office for Protection of Personal Data. A certain Professor Giorgio Zauli has reported me for publishing an official letter his University of Ferrara sent to me on his behalf.
Two sets of events for Women in STEM: the theoretical physicist Alessandro Strumia, soon likely ex-CERN affiliated, decried feminist conspiracies and the discrimination against males like himself, in a workshop talk on gender. Right after, the Nobel Prize for physics was finally after 55 years given to a woman. Thing is: one of the other recipients, Gerard Mourou, made it clear in a 2013 video what the roles of males and females in physics are.
Giovanni Tarantino andC armine Finelli are two medical plagiarists from Naples in Italy, who became infamous after one of them was caught having stolen the work of a US colleague he was peer reviewing. In other cases, the two Napolitans were even too lazy to plagiarise. They simply republished their already plagiarised “works” several times, even as book chapters. The journals were informed, but most couldn’t care less.
The Rector of University of Ferrara, Giorgio Zauli, reacted to my reporting by announcing legal retaliation of both criminal and civil prosecution. He reported me to Italian State prosecutor and issued this threat in this official capacity, acting for his Italian university.
