How it started?

For two decades I followed that approach, and I thought that in my field, Women’s health, I could contribute to organise large studies in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world. Never had I asked myself the question, are the data that I see in publications actually true.

Then I learned clinical epidemiology as a two to assess the value of diagnostic tests and treatments, we focused on the quality of studies: We critically appraised their biases and their sample size come to a recommendation on weather the test or treatment should be used in clinical practise. Initially through simple checklists, this later evolved to GRADE.

Around 2014 I learned about a publication retracted from Fertility and Sterility (on the right below). The paper had been retracted at the request of the editors of Fertility and Sterility as it duplicates parts of a paper that had already appeared in Hum Reprod 2005;20:1632-5 (on the left below).

In fact, doctor Tarek Shokeir had faked a randomised clinical trial evaluating myomectomy by copying tables from a Spanish study on polypectomy.

Alerted by this observation, I noticed suspicious findings in papers that I handled as an editor. Upon flagging my concerns, the authors disappeared and I found the papers published elsewhere, with modifications of the suspicious findings. The papers are now retracted (ref ref) .