FLICKR, BRIAN TURNERWayne State University pathologist Fazlul Sarkar is suing certain users of the post-publication peer review forum PubPeer, demanding that the website’s moderators release identifying information pertaining to anonymous comments that—according to his lawyer, Nicholas Roumel—allegedly contain defamatory statements about Sarkar.
When The Scientist first reported on a perceived legal threat to the website in August, Sarkar’s identity was not yet released, nor were his chief complaints. A month later it was revealed, through Roumel and a post at PubPeer, that anonymous comments posted to the website allegedly cost Sarkar a job. According to Retraction Watch, officials at the University of Mississippi rescinded an offer Sarkar had already accepted based on anonymous comments posted to PubPeer questioning some of the pathologist’s publications.
In a complaint filed with Michigan’s Wayne County Circuit Court (posted by Retraction Watch), Roumel noted that Ole Miss’s offer of tenured professorship to Sarkar included, among other things, a $750,000 start-up package, an annual salary of $350,000, relocation expenses up to $15,000, lab ...
