A paper describing a novel technique was submitted. Three out of four external reviewers felt that the results could not be true. The manufacturers of the tool used in the technique provided evidence to support the reviewers’ claims that the results were not feasible.
The editor wrote to the authors asking them to explain their results. The authors replied saying that they were unable to replicate their initial results and wished to withdraw their manuscript.
The editor pressed the authors for a full explanation of the results, including the reasons for not ensuring that the results could be replicated prior to submission. The authors replied again to reassure the editor that they shared the concerns about not being able to replicate the initial results, and explaining that they had alerted their head of department who has appointed an investigation committee to look into the matter further. The authors have assured the editors that they will be informed of the outcome of the investigation.
This case has been brought to the committee for information only, as an interesting example of authors independently taking the appropriate steps to investigate anomalous results.