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Update (December 21): The authors retracted the paper today after three experts reviewed the study post-publication and agreed with criticisms about the use of coauthorship as a proxy for mentorship. “Although we believe that all the key findings of the paper with regards to co-authorship between junior and senior researchers are still valid, given the issues identified by reviewers about the validation of key measures, we have concluded that the most appropriate course of action is to retract the Article,” the authors write in the retraction notice, adding that they regret the pain the paper caused among members of the scientific community.
A study published in Nature Communications November 17 has caused an eruption of outrage among scientists. The study of 3 million mentor-protégé pairs in STEM found that women trainees who coauthored papers with senior women scientists received fewer citations after they became principal ...
