Neurologist Paul McCrory Resigns Amid Plagiarism Allegations

McCrory left his post as chair of the influential Concussion in Sport Group after several of his editorials appeared to plagiarize other researchers’ work.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 4 min read

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Update (October 11): The British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) has retracted nine articles and placed expressions of concern on an additional 38 in which McCrory, who was previously the journal’s editor-in-chief, was the sole author, according to a press release by the journal. In an editorial published by the journal on October 10, high-level staffers of the BJSM and the British Medical Journal (BMJ) say that five retractions were due to plagiarism and three were due to redundant publication. The last article was retracted after McCrory “inaccurately quoted and misrepresented the position” of another researcher as a key support for his argument.

Update (September 26): Concussion expert Paul McCrory has since been accused of 10 additional cases of plagiarism, The Guardian reports. The new incidents, first shared by Nick Brown, a data analyst at Linnaeus University in Sweden, cover papers published between 2001 and 2018 in which McCrory is ...

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Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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