WIKIMEDIA, BLOGTREPRENEURIn August 2015, an investigative panel found former Wayne State University pathologist Fazlul Sarkar guilty of multiple instances of research misconduct. This finding, first reported by The Scientist today (October 19), may impact the legal case being prosecuted in the courts now as Sarkar attempts to file defamation suits against people who have commented on irregularities in his published work.
For two years, Sarkar’s attorney, Nicholas Roumel, has been pursuing a legal case in an attempt to learn the identities of anonymous commenters who posted critiques of the pathologist’s publications on the post-publication peer review website PubPeer. To pursue a defamation suit against anonymous commenters who Roumel alleges cost Sarkar a job, he would need to learn the commenters’ identities first.
Earlier this month, the Michigan Court of Appeals considered the constitutionality of unmasking anonymous commenters in this case. During those proceedings, Alex Abdo, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who is representing PubPeer, mentioned the Wayne State investigation. Because the institutional inquiry was not part of the official record the appellate court was able to consider, Judge Elizabeth Gleicher quickly quashed ...
.jpg){kind=link}