Report: Former CNRS President Guilty of Fraud

Anne Peyroche, who was removed as interim head of France’s National Center for Scientific Research in January, committed scientific misconduct, according to the French Academy of Sciences.

Written byJef Akst

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ABOVE: The French Academy of Sciences found that Anne Peyroche’s articles contained multiple incidences of data manipulation.
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The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission has found that cell biologist Anne Peyroche, deputy director of the organization’s Molecular Genetics Laboratory who also served interim president of National Center for Scientific Research, was complicit in the publication of falsified data, according to a report revealed by French news magazine L’Express last week (October 8). The report, completed in May by the French Academy of Sciences, was subsequently buried by both the CEA and CNRS, according to the news story.

Suspicions about Peyroche’s work were first raised last year on the postpublication peer review website PubPeer, where anonymous users pointed to signs of retouched images in five articles she published between 2001 and 2012. Following the allegations, CNRS selected computer scientist Antoine Petit to take Peyroche’s place as its president, ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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