WIKIMEDIA, BRIAN TURNERYesterday, The Scientist unearthed the findings of a Wayne State University investigation into allegations of misconduct by former employee and cancer researcher Fazlul Sarkar. Now, the ACLU lawyers hope to use those findings in an ongoing legal battle between Sarkar and PubPeer, the post-publication peer review website that hosted negative comments from anonymous individuals about Sarkar’s work.
According to the report, Wayne State investigators found Sarkar guilty of several instances of image manipulation in published papers and in grant applications and progress reports submitted to the National Institutes of Health. As Sarkar’s legal team pushes to learn the identities of anonymous commenters who raised concerns about the researcher’s work, the ACLU lawyers representing PubPeer have filed a motion with the Michigan Court of Appeals to enter the investigation’s existence into the trial record. As both PubPeer’s and Sarkar’s legal teams said to The Scientist, the findings of guilt contained in the Wayne State would likely weaken any potential defamation suits against PubPeer commenters.
“We think the disclosure of the report makes PubPeer’s legal case even stronger, and we think the court should ...
