Science journalism by Leonid Schneider, on research integrity and academic publishing in life sciences and biomedicine
David Sabatini, remember that story? Well, it seems the conclusions were not affected. I take an ill-informed look at the mTOR signalling research field, to understand how photoshopped data gets to be independently verified by other labs.
“The relentless defence of duplicated, fabricated or falsified data is, per se, a form of serious misconduct…” Antonio Giordano, President of Sbarro Pizza Institute at Temple University
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.
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.
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.
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.
