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Here are the most-retracted scientists in the world, ranked

Scientists should fear the Retraction Watch leaderboard, where scientists with the most retractions are listed.
Scientists should fear the Retraction Watch leaderboard, where scientists with the most retractions are listed.
Ollyy/Shutterstock

Scientists sometimes screw up. When their mistakes are uncovered, journals typically run retraction notices to call attention to the errors.

These notices used to languish in databases that no one read — until the site Retraction Watch came along in 2010. The blog covers the salacious stories of retractions, and the bad scientists behind them, like Perez Hilton does Hollywood gossip.

Now Retraction Watch is taking its nerdy obsession to the level of a sport. On a new leaderboard, it's publicizing the scientists with the most retractions.

Here's the current top 10:

  1. Yoshitaka Fujii (total retractions: 183)
  2. Joachim Boldt (89)
  3. Peter Chen (60)
  4. Diederik Stapel (54)
  5. Hua Zhong (41)
  6. Adrian Maxim (38)
  7. Shigeaki Kato (36)
  8. Hendrik Schön (36)
  9. Hyung-In Moon (35)
  10. Naoki Mori (32)

Retraction Watch plans to keep the list up to date as it uncovers new stories.

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