2015 Japanese scientific misconduct allegations

From the end of 2014 to the beginning of 2015, "Anonymous A" posted a thread on the aforementioned board titled "Why there should be more outrage over scientific fabrications",[8] revealing that approximately 80 medical papers published in international journals such as Nature from Japanese research institutions between 1996 and 2008 contained image data suspected of being fabricated. The post by Anonymous A was immediately spread through Japanese web sites,[12][1] and Japanese major newspapers and NHK began reporting from January 9, 2015.[1][13] The MEXT, Hirofumi Shimomura, revealed at a post-cabinet press conference on January 13, 2015 that a written anonymous accusation was also sent to them on January 6.[14]

Osaka University, where the largest number of papers, at 28, were identified, conducted a preliminary investigation of all suspected papers, except for the paper authored by the professor that committed suicide in 2006. The investigation denied suspicion in one paper, determined that seven papers were inadvertently misused, and terminated the investigation for the remaining 19 papers because "the fact of fraud could not be confirmed due to the lack of data."[15] University of Tokyo published a document stating its conclusion only that it had determined that there was no research misconduct.[16] Kyushu University's internal investigation found no admission of wrongdoing.[17]

On May 19, 2015, a question regarding "Anonymous A"'s findings was asked by Junya Ogawa, at the Japanese House of Representatives. In answering the question, MEXT Parliamentary Secretary Tomohiro Yamamoto stated that "64 papers, 17 institutions, 33 researchers" were reported not to be fraudulent and "23 papers, 10 institutions, 16 researchers" were still under investigation.[18] In October of 2016, Mitsuru Sakurai submitted a question to the Chair of the Japanese House of Councillors, pointing out that the investigation of the University of Tokyo into research misconduct was inadequate.[19] He also uncovered information that the person in charge of the investigation at the University of Tokyo was a researcher who was close to the accused.

One JBC paper published by Kanazawa University was retracted on September 4, 2015.[20] As of August 2017, fourteen papers in the journals, such as Nature,[21] have been corrected.

In addition to the aforementioned incidents, "Anonymous A" have also made allegations pointing out suspicious image data of other papers from Japan.[22] As of August 23, 2021, a total of 114 papers have been pointed out, and the corresponding authors of the pointed out papers include three Japanese Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine, one of whom was obliged to make an apologetic press conference.[23] As of August 2017, five papers from major journals that were not mentioned in the original accusations[24] have been corrected after being pointed out.