Allegations Refuted

Over the last two years or more, several allegations have been circulated to the scientific community, both verbally and through e-mail, that would appear to imply data fabrication, falsification or manipulation. A response to these allegations is available here. Some of this material is similar to allegations of scientific misconduct initially forwarded to us by Editors at Nature and Nature Physics in May 2006. In accordance with Federal guidelines these allegations were investigated by an independent committee, who found errors of judgment in data presentation, but no evidence for research misconduct. Statement from the external committee regarding this matter is available.

We admit that mistakes have been made and errors of judgment made in regard to data presentation, which we deeply regret, but never have we fabricated or falsified data. All allegations have a simple explanation, often trivial. In all cases a direct enquiry to the authors could have resolved the issue. If issues cannot be resolved directly, they should be raised in the open peer-reviewed scientific literature rather than by circulation of unsubstantiated allegations through PowerPoint files.