--- title: Stem Cell Papers Retracted Because of Fraud description: Editors of Nature, which published two papers claiming to generate stem cells in a simplified way, are retracting both papers after data was “misrepresented.” canonical: https://time.com/2950982/blockbuster-stem-cell-studies-retracted-because-of-fraud/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-02T17:06:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:56:53.003Z article:section: Health og:title: Journal Retracts Two High Profile Stem Cell Papers Due to Fraud og:description: Editors of Nature, which published two papers claiming to generate stem cells in a simplified way, are retracting both papers after data was “misrepresented.” og:url: https://time.com/2950982/blockbuster-stem-cell-studies-retracted-because-of-fraud/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Journal Retracts Two High Profile Stem Cell Papers Due to Fraud twitter:description: Editors of Nature, which published two papers claiming to generate stem cells in a simplified way, are retracting both papers after data was “misrepresented.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Blockbuster Stem-Cell Studies Retracted Because of Fraud  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 2, 2014 5:06 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Jul 2, 2014 5:06 PM UTC In an editorial published on Wednesday, editors at the scientific journal _Nature_ announced their decision to [retract two papers](http://www.nature.com/news/stap-retracted-1.15488) that received wide media attention, including [by TIME](http://time.com/2583/growing-your-own-tissue-just-add-stress-and-stir/), for apparently dramatically simplifying the process of creating stem cells. [Genetically manipulating](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1630023,00.html) older, mature cells are the only confirmed methods for reprogramming them back to their embryonic state, but in the _Nature_ papers, Japanese scientists claimed to have accomplished the feat by physical means, using an acidic bath or physical stress. Several months after the papers were published, one of the co-authors, from the RIKEN Institute, [called for their retraction](http://time.com/20082/stem-cell-researcher-calls-for-retraction-of-his-own-work/), saying “I’m no longer sure that the articles are correct.” RIKEN’s own probe determined that the studies’ lead author, Haruko Obokata, was [guilty of misconduct](http://time.com/45541/stem-cell-scientist-guilty-of-falsifying-data/). At the time, _Nature_ launched its own investigation into concerns that some of the figures in the paper contained errors, and that parts of the text were plagiarized. The journal now says that “data that were an essential part of the authors’ claims have been misrepresented. Figures that were described as representing different cells and different embryos were in fact describing the same cells and the same embryos.” **MORE:**[ Stem-Cell Scientist Guilty of Falsifying Data](http://time.com/45541/stem-cell-scientist-guilty-of-falsifying-data/) While scientific journals have peer-review processes to check researchers’ work, they rely on the fact that the scientists are presenting their data in their entirety and without any biases—something that didn’t occur in this case. _Nature_’s editors say they are reviewing their review process and intend to improve on the way they select articles to ensure that such mistakes are minimized. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2950982/blockbuster-stem-cell-studies-retracted-because-of-fraud/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2950982/blockbuster-stem-cell-studies-retracted-because-of-fraud/"},"headline":"Blockbuster Stem-Cell Studies Retracted Because of Fraud","datePublished":"2014-07-02T17:06:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:56:53.003Z","description":"Editors of Nature, which published two papers claiming to generate stem cells in a simplified way, are retracting both papers after data was “misrepresented.”","url":"https://time.com/2950982/blockbuster-stem-cell-studies-retracted-because-of-fraud/","keywords":["Stem Cells","Research","nature"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/stem-cells/","name":"Stem Cells"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2950982/blockbuster-stem-cell-studies-retracted-because-of-fraud/","name":"Blockbuster Stem-Cell Studies Retracted Because of Fraud"}}]}] ```