Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28246071›Full record

ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2017

Scientific Misconduct and Social Media: Role of Twitter in the Stimulus Triggered Acquisition of Pluripotency Cells Scandal.

Yuya Sugawara, Tetsuya Tanimoto, Shoko Miyagawa, Masayasu Murakami, Atsushi Tsuya, Atsushi Tanaka, Masahiro Kami, Hiroto Narimatsu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Yuya SugawaraInstitute for Promotion of Medical Science Research, Yamagata University, Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-2371-3487
Tetsuya TanimotoNavitas Clinic, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-9818-8587
Shoko MiyagawaFaculty of Nursing and Medical Care, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-4613-930X
Masayasu MurakamiDepartment of Health Policy Science, Graduate School of Medical Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-7100-391X
Atsushi TsuyaInstitute for Promotion of Medical Science Research, Yamagata University, Faculty of Medicine, Yamagata, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-2934-1808
Atsushi TanakaGraduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-2584-8871
Masahiro KamiMedical Governance Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-5130-3832
Hiroto NarimatsuCancer Prevention and Control Division, Kanagawa Cancer Center Research Institute, Yokohama, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-0383-4911

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe academic scandal on a study on stimulus‑triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells in Japan in 2014 involved suspicions of scientific misconduct by the lead author of the study after the paper had been reviewed on a peer‑review website. This study investigated the discussions on STAP cells on Twitter and content of newspaper articles in an attempt to assess the role of social compared with traditional media in scientific peer review.

objectiveThis study examined Twitter utilization in scientific peer review on STAP cells misconduct.

methodsSearches for tweets and newspaper articles containing the term "STAP cells" were carried out through Twitter's search engine and Nikkei Telecom database, respectively. The search period was from January 1 to July 1, 2014. The nouns appearing in the "top tweets" and newspaper articles were extracted through a morphological analysis, and their frequency of appearance and changes over time were investigated.

resultsThe total numbers of top tweets and newspaper articles containing the term were 134,958 and 1646, respectively. Negative words concerning STAP cells began to appear on Twitter by February 9-15, 2014, or 3 weeks after Obokata presented a paper on STAP cells. The number of negative words in newspaper articles gradually increased beginning in the week of March 12-18, 2014. A total of 1000 tweets were randomly selected, and they were found to contain STAP-related opinions (43.3%, 433/1000), links to news sites and other sources (41.4%, 414/1000), false scientific or medical claims (8.9%, 89/1000), and topics unrelated to STAP (6.4%, 64/1000).

conclusionsThe discussion on scientific misconduct during the STAP cells scandal took place at an earlier stage on Twitter than in newspapers, a traditional medium.

Indexed as

BioethicsScientific MisconductSocial MediaHumansInduced Pluripotent Stem CellsPeer ReviewbioethicsInternetmass mediaweb 2.0

Identifiers

PMID28246071
PMCPMC5350454

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.