Nur ein kurzer Hinweis auf einen interessanten Fall beim Open Access-Journal PLoS One. Dort steht ein Artikel unter Beschuss, weil die Autoren einen “Creator” ins Spiel gebracht hatten.
Es geht um die Anatomie der Hand und ihre Entwicklung, und im Abstract schreiben die chinesischen Autoren:
“The explicit functional link indicates that the biomechanical characteristic of tendinous connective architecture between muscles and articulations is the proper design by the Creator to perform a multitude of daily tasks in a comfortable way.”
Später heißt es:
“Thus, hand coordination affords humans the ability to flexibly and comfortably control the complex structure to perform numerous tasks. Hand coordination should indicate the mystery of the Creator’s invention.”
Und in der Conclusion:
“In conclusion, our study can improve the understanding of the human hand and confirm that the mechanical architecture is the proper design by the Creator for dexterous performance of numerous functions following the evolutionary remodeling of the ancestral hand for millions of years.”
Den Reviewern war der Gottesbezug offenbar entgangen. Nach dem heftigen Protest von Lesern sah sich die Redaktion gezwungen, zu reagieren:
“A number of readers have concerns about sentences in the article that make references to a ‘Creator’. The PLOS ONE editors apologize that this language was not addressed internally or by the Academic Editor during the evaluation of the manuscript. We are looking into the concerns raised about the article with priority and will take steps to correct the published record.”
In den Kommentaren ist eine Diskussion über das weitere Vorgehen entbrannt: Muss der Artikel zurückgezogen werden, muss man nur die kritischen Stellen streichen? Zugleich kritisieren einige Kommentatoren den Begutachtungsprozess bei PLoS One.
Man bekommt den Eindruck, dass das Begutachten eher im Vorbeigehen erledigt wurde.
(hat tip @DLF_Forschung)
Nachtrag: Laut Retraction Watch ist der Artikel bereits zurückgezogen (obwohl er ist online noch verfügbar ist , was völlig normal ist, wie Klaus Graf auf Archivalia richtig anmerkt), dort wird das Magazin zitiert:
“The PLOS ONE editors have followed up on the concerns raised about this publication. We have completed an evaluation of the history of the submission and received advice from two experts in our editorial board. Our internal review and the advice we have received have confirmed the concerns about the article and revealed that the peer review process did not adequately evaluate several aspects of the work.
In light of the concerns identified, the PLOS ONE editors have decided to retract the article, the retraction is being processed and will be posted as soon as possible. We apologize for the errors and oversight leading to the publication of this paper.”
In den Kommentaren hatte sich auch eine Person gemeldet, die sich als Mitautor des Papers bezeichnet:
“We are sorry for drawing the debates about creationism. Our study has no relationship with creationism. English is not our native language. Our understanding of the word Creator was not actually as a native English speaker expected. Now we realized that we had misunderstood the word Creator. What we would like to express is that the biomechanical characteristic of tendious connective architecture between muscles and articulations is a proper design by the NATURE (result of evolution) to perform a multitude of daily grasping tasks. We will change the Creator to nature in the revised manuscript. We apologize for any troubles may have caused by this misunderstanding.
We have spent seven months doing the experiments, analysis, and write up. I hope this paper will not be discriminated only because of this misunderstanding of the word. Please could you read the paper before making a decision.
Competing interests declared: I am the author of paper.”
Nachtrag 2: Der Evolutionsbiologe und Autor Jerry Coyne hat dem Fall auch noch einen ausführlichen Blogbeitrag gewidmet. Coyne hat unter anderem ein Buch mit dem Titel “Faith vs. Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible” geschrieben und verteidigt die Evolutionstheorie vehement gegen Kreationisten.
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