The article "Decision In Imanishi-Kari Appeal Spurs Call For Changes In System" in your edition of August 19 [B. Goodman, The Scientist, page 1] reports that an appeals panel of the Department of Health and Human Services cleared Thereza Imanishi-Kari of all 19 counts of scientific misconduct. The panel consisted of two lawyers of the department and a Distinguished Service Professor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
The panelists could not deny that there are many things wrong with the paper in question; however, they qualified all the wrongs as mere errors. We cannot judge because the errors are not spelled out in the article, save one: We can learn that the data used in the paper are different from those that were recorded and from those written in the protocol. This is, however, not qualified as misconduct but is explained by the "innocent" fact that "Dr. Imanishi-Kari ...
