Clare Francis is a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

used since 2010 by the author (or authors) of hundreds of

whistle-blowing Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

emails sent to the editors of scientific journals that call attention to suspected cases of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

and fabricated or duplicated figures.Ed Yong, Heidi Ledford & Richard Van Noorden
Research ethics: 3 ways to blow the whistle
''Nature'' (November 27, 2013). Described as a scientific

gadfly Gadfly most commonly refers to: * Horse fly or botfly * Gadfly (philosophy and social science), a person who upsets the status quo Gadfly may also refer to: Entertainment * ''The Gadfly'', an 1897 novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich ** ''The Gadfly'' ...

, the pseudonymous Francis is "a source both legendary and loathed in biomedical circles" for their "uncanny knack for seeing improperly altered images, as well as smaller flaws that some editors are inclined to ignore."James Glanz & Agustin Armendariz
Years of Ethics Charges, but Star Cancer Researcher Gets a Pass
''New York Times'' (March 8, 2017). Francis refers to themself as an "attentive reader"; their "real identity, gender, and occupation remain secret."Kerry Grens
What to do about "Clare Francis"
'' The Scientist'' (September 14, 2013)

Mixed response from editors

Francis's complaints have been determined on a number of occasions to be valid; for example, in 2013, the ''Journal of Cellular Biology'' retracted an article published in 2006 after Francis brought image manipulation to the editors' attention.Ivan Oransky
Clare Francis scores a bullseye: Journal of Cell Biology paper retracted for image manipulation
''

Retraction Watch Retraction Watch is a blog that reports on retractions of scientific papers and on related topics. The blog was launched in August 2010 and is produced by science writers Ivan Oransky (Former Vice President, Editorial ''Medscape'') and Adam Ma ...

'' (January 22, 2013). Francis's complaints, however, are not always acted upon, as some editors do not wish to respond to anonymous whistleblowers and have found some of Francis's claims to be lacking in verifiability or even a waste of time to investigate. Tom Reller of

Elsevier Elsevier ( ) is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as ''The Lancet'', ''Cell (journal), Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, ...

explains how publishers deal with Francis: In a ''Lab Times'' editorial, Adam Marcus and

Ivan Oransky Ivan Oransky is an American physician, medical researcher, and journalist known for his advocacy of scientific integrity through improved tracking and institutional reforms. His opinions and statistics on scientific misconduct have been described ...

, who run the ''

'' blog, argue that journal editors "should stop ignoring anonymous whistle-blowers" such as Francis.Adam Marcus & Ivan Oransky
Who Are You? Editors should stop ignoring anonymous whistle-blowers
''Lab Times'', 7-2011, p. 39.

References

External links

*Nature

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Clare Anonymity pseudonyms Unidentified whistleblowers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)