Former Ohio State researcher Flavia Pichiorri criticized how the publication, the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), handled the dispute and said the journal suddenly pivoted away from its plan to republish the study with repeated experiments, a claim supported by correspondence.

In 2020, Ohio State University found Pichiorri, who worked in the lab of Carlo Croce, culpable for manipulating and reusing images in four publications, spanning from her time in Croce’s lab through establishing her own lab at Ohio State. Croce was cleared of direct misconduct, but OSU found serious management and oversight failures in his laboratory. Once a high-profile cancer researcher at Ohio State, Croce now has 18 retractions. He has filed several defamation lawsuits unsuccessfully, and reportedly owes his attorneys more than $1 million.

In its final report for Pichiorri’s case, the university recommended immediate retraction of two of her papers, including a 2013 article in JEM, and barred her from future employment at Ohio State.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2026/07/22/journal-retracts-breast-cancer-paper-10-years-after-sleuth-flagged-issues/

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