Medical journal retracts nine more articles by former editor-in-chief

The British Journal of Sports Medicine retracted 9 more non-research articles authored by former Editor-in-Chief Dr Paul McCrory, and will issue an “expression of concern” to 38 other articles published in BMJ journals in which he is the sole author.

These latest retractions follow the retraction earlier this year of an editorial in British Journal of Sports Medicinecaused by concern that the article bears similarities to an article written for The world of physics.

McCrory, now of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia, edited the journal from 2001 to 2008, during which time he published at least 164 articles in BMJ magazines – most of them in Art British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The decision to withdraw these articles follows an internal investigation BMJintegrity research team and current editor-in-chief British Journal of Sports Medicine. This was prompted by allegations made by researcher Dr Nick Brown of publication misconduct.

All 9 retractions relate to opinions, commentaries and editorials solely authored by McCrory: they consist of 5 instances of plagiarism and 3 instances of redundant publication.

In another retracted article, McCrory inaccurately quotes and misrepresents the position of Dr. Augustus Thorndike as stated in an earlier 1952 publication.

The quote misrepresents Thorndike’s recommendations for managing prolonged contact sports after concussion, which McCrory used to support his position in the article.

Given McCrory’s pattern of misconduct in the publication revealed by both BMJinvestigation, the publisher decided that a statement of concern should be placed on all content published in its journals, including British Journal of Sports Medicinewhere he is listed as the sole author, alerting readers to the findings of these studies.

An editorial detailing the latest investigation was published online at British Journal of Sports Medicine highlights McCrory’s “most influential work”: the 5 iterations of international consensus guidelines for concussion that were developed in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 and published in magazine.

After reviewing the concussion consensus statement in 2016, the research integrity team concluded that it had “no concerns about plagiarism” and felt that “the question of the extent of McCrory’s contribution to and influence on the five versions of the consensus statement is a question of the terms of reference of the scientific committee appointed by the Concussion in Sport Group (CISG).”

The editors note that after Art plagiarism After the allegations first surfaced, McCrory resigned his leadership position at CISG, an international association of clinicians and scientists interested in sports-related concussions, and resigned as a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Consensus Conference on Concussions in Sports.

BMJ determined 40 scientific articles published in his journals in which McCrory was a co-author: 18 of these were published during his tenure as editor-in-chief British Journal of Sports Medicine.

“We have not received any specific accusations misconduct in relation to these documents,” the editorial said, concluding with a promise to investigate any further allegations regarding McCrory’s publications in BMJ magazines.

“Scientific reporting relies on trust, and BMJThe credibility of McCrory’s work, particularly the articles he published as a single author, has been compromised. We will investigate any new ones statements what we get about McCrory’s work in the BMJ magazines. We ask other publishers and his institution to do the same.”