Scientific Publication Condemns Photo-Manipulation

valdean writes "According to a recent article in the New York Times (registration and short biography required) scientific journals have begun to respond to a growing problem of photo-manipulation in submitted manuscripts. At The Journal of Cell Biology, a test developed in 2002 revealed that 25 percent of all accepted manuscripts had one or more illustrations that were manipulated to the point of violating the journal's guidelines. Examples included the duplication of images for re-presentation as a control experiment, making pictures prettier with the clone stamp tool, use of the contrast tool to hide data, and merging portions of several images so that they appear to be a single image. How were many of these scientists caught? They submitted layered Adobe Photoshop files that showed exactly what they had done."

Comments

Cheats Graphed by Country, Culture, and Ethnicity

[Anonymous Coward]

I would be interested in seeing a breakdown of the cheats by country, culture, and ethnicity.

Is there a systemic pattern of doctored photographs coming out of South Korea and China?

Indentifying the culture and ethnicity of the cheats may be difficult. One approximation is to classify the incidents of doctored photographs by the last name of the author. For example, do people with Korean or Chinese surnames submit a disproportionate share of doctored photographs?