#ThisImageIsFine
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hansonmark.bsky.social
Voila! The Research Integrity Feed hashtag list for post inclusion 📊🔍👀

#ResearchIntegrity
#PredatoryPublisher
#PredatoryPublishing
#EditorialIndependence
#SciRetraction
#PaperMill
#PaperMills
#HijackedJournal
#HijackedJournals
#ImageForensics
#FoSci
#ThisImageIsFine
#DoctoredImage

Cheers 🍻
January 5, 2025 at 10:41 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
Like me, you might be frustrated at the amount of overlapping and photoshopped images in science papers that we sleuths are finding.
But what is even more frustrating is the lack of response and action from journals.
Here is a thread with some outrageous examples.
#ThisImageIsFine
/
November 20, 2024 at 2:06 AM
altmetric.com
Still laughing about this a year later. #ThisImageIsFine

researcher meme stash submission for @drmeagantyler.bsky.social
michaelhoffman.bsky.social Michael Hoffman @michaelhoffman.bsky.social · Nov 8
Uh, I think @elisabethbik.bsky.social has some explaining to do
December 12, 2025 at 9:03 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
I often wonder how grown-up people, full professors even, can make such statements with such confidence, while the evidence appears to be staring them in the face.
#ThisImageIsFine
#ImageForensics
#Academia
#ResearchIntegrity
December 12, 2025 at 7:20 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
#ImageForensics #ResearchIntegrity #ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing

Can you spot something unexpected?
Hint: find the overlapping panels
Eight panels from a scientific figure, all with different labels - four rows, two columns showing dark grey clumps on a light grey background
December 14, 2025 at 1:52 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
A pretty hard #ImageForensics.
Can you spot the duplication?
#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
Figure from a scientific paper showing 9 'woundhealing' assays, where a pipette tip is used to make a scratch in a monolayer of cells and the assay monitors how fast the edges grow back together.
January 9, 2026 at 12:54 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
A nice and easy #ImageForensics challenge, sent to me by a reader.
Can you spot the problem here?

#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
Two panel, labeled C / NA1I and D / NA1C, respectively. They show TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) photos, each showing a light grey background with darker black dots of different size in a sort of random pattern.
January 16, 2026 at 2:43 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
Oh, come on, @aaas.org Science Translational Medicine, correcting a paper for a photoshopped image?
That is absolutely bonkers, and you should do much, much better.

#ThisImageIsFine #ImageForensics
Figure 3Ai - original on the left, corrected on the right. Both show 4 panels with 5 gelleous droplets on tissue paper. On the left image (original) i have marked two droplets in the top panel with red boxes, because they look the same.
May 8, 2026 at 8:47 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
#ImageForensics #ThisImageIsFine
#ResearchIntegrity

Spot the overlapping panels!

Three time points, four treatments, but are all 12 panels from different animals?
You tell me!
12 panels showing lung tissue: Purple structures with air bubbles. Three time points are shown as rows, and four treatments as columns.
December 17, 2025 at 6:24 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
#ThisImageIsFine #ImageForensics
Neurobiology of Aging issues a correction, completely ignoring the serious concerns in Figure 5.

@nba-eic.bsky.social, can you please take a better look at the issues pointed out in this PubPeer thread?

This should be a retraction.

pubpeer.com/publications...
Figure 5 of this paper, with four repetitive areas within or across photos.
December 12, 2025 at 8:00 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
The Medical University of South Carolina Research Integrity Officer and Committee concluded that "human error in regards to organization and record keeping of original images was the cause for this mistake."

How the heck can this be caused by a mistake?

#ThisImageIsFine
#ImageForensics
Figure from a scientific paper showing three Western blots, each with five lanes. The bottom one (labeled b-actin) has three dientical lanes, which I marked with red boxes. https://pubpeer.com/publications/4E8CA18B8A0DE440619A23D705CBB8 doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2021.11.005.
December 16, 2025 at 11:01 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
After yesterday's very hard challenge, I will give you a super easy one. Can you spot the duplication?
#ImageForensics
#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
Figure from a scientific paper. We see a grid of panels in 3 rows (different treatments) and 5 columns (different timepoints), each showing a dark grey background with lighter grey cells in small groups.
January 9, 2026 at 8:15 PM
tomk.eurosky.social
Ayman Atta (KSU, EPRI) has earned 5 more #SciRetraction, all from ‪ACS Omega! 👍Kudos to @acs.org @pubs.acs.org

🤝Team work with @mumumouse2.bsky.social Sylvain Bernès @elisabethbik.bsky.social and anonymous @pubpeer.com contributors ❤️

#ResearchIntegrity 🔍 #ImageForensics #FoSci
#ThisImageIsFine
July 27, 2025 at 12:13 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
“the concerns pertaining to figs. 3, 4, and 5 which remain outstanding are unlikely to impact the wider conclusions of the article”

WHAT MORE is needed to impact an editor’s conclusion?

At least, an EoC was issued.

HT: @reeserichardson.bsky.social
#ResearchIntegrity
#ThisImageIsFine
#Academia
Figure from the paper showing six panels with red cells. I have added lots of colored boxes to highlight duplications. https://pubpeer.com/publications/981C24DC8085D84FAA610B07741F59#4
December 3, 2025 at 6:08 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
Can you spot all three overlaps?

#ImageForensics
#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
Figure from scientific paper, showing panels in 5 columns and 4 rows, all showing cells associated with different nanoparticles. Each panel has a black background, blue fluorescent nuclei and green fluorescent blobs.
January 16, 2026 at 9:12 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
The second #retraction for the group of Kalipada Pahan at @rushmedical.bsky.social, with findings by @mumumouse2.bsky.social and myself.

36 of his papers have made it to @pubpeer.com.

Kudos to @pnas.org.

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pubpeer.com/publications...

#ImageForensics #ThisImageIsFine
A collage of 6 panels, showing duplicated panels in several figure (fluorescent cells, microscopy photos, western blots), and two tables with repetitive values
January 8, 2026 at 12:37 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
This is a nice #ImageForensics.
So far, I have found three problems in this paper. Can you spot at least two?
#ThisImageIsFine
Figure from a scientific paper showing twelve panels labeled a through l, in three rows (different infection ratios), four columns (four time points). They have a dark grey background, and show lighter outlines of elongated cells. Some panels overlap, unexpectedly.
December 26, 2025 at 7:17 PM
tomk.eurosky.social
That's retraction #22 for VS Aigbodion...

#ResearchIntegrity 🕵️ #FoSci #ImageForensics #ThisImageIsFine #DoctoredImage
spottingthespot.bsky.social spottingthespot.bsky.social @spottingthespot.bsky.social · Nov 15
It happened again, @tkes.bsky.social strikes again! Another retraction for professional #papermill #fraud Victor Sunday Aigbodion. How long till he ends up in the @retractionwatch.com leaderboard?
November 17, 2025 at 2:11 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
Despite clear evidence of image manipulation, @elsevierconnect.bsky.social's BBRC did not retract the paper. Instead, authors were allowed to submit a new, “clean” set of figures.

This response seriously undermines research integrity.
#ThisImageIsFine #ImageForensics

pubpeer.com/publications...
Left: Figure 3D, showing 6 panels with orange, big and smaller blobs on a yellow background. Marked by me with rounded boxes in many different colors to highlight duplicated areas. Right: Corrected Figure 3D, showing 6 completely new panels, grey background and purple blobs.
January 8, 2026 at 8:45 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
Can you spot some unexpected duplications?
A through D are four differently treated rats.
#ImageForensics #ResearchIntegrity #ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
We see four panels labeled A through D. Each shows blueish stained tissue with some defined lighter blue areas with dark blot dots (nuclei of cells). Some panels have white arrows pointing at structures.
December 14, 2025 at 7:40 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
There are two sets of overlapping panels in this figure.
Can you spot them both?
Each panel is a differently treated rat.
#ImageForensics
#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
Ten panels in two columns, 5 rows. Labeled A through J. Left column shows pink tissues with white crinkly lines. Right column shows brown tissue on a cyan blue background.
January 12, 2026 at 11:05 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
A beautiful #ThisImageIsFine published in Scientific Reports. Reported 2 years ago. What happened?
Nada.
Authors from Central South University in China, @harvardmed.bsky.social, and @yaleuniversity.bsky.social

pubpeer.com/publications...
A histology photo from a scientific paper. It is mainly red with white structures suggesting different layers of tissue. I have added lots of boxes. Boxes of the same color show areas that look identical.
November 20, 2024 at 2:40 AM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
1. They did not catch the repetitive areas in the original figure
2. They did not address the PubPeer concerns about photoshopping with a retraction - instead, they allowed the authors to replace all panels 😡
3. They did not check if the new panels were ok.
#ThisImageIsFine
January 30, 2026 at 10:51 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
No replies yet.... It is a hard one!
Hint: focus on the bottom right panel - there is something unexpected going on there.
#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
#ImageForensics
January 9, 2026 at 5:30 PM
elisabethbik.bsky.social
An easy one today.
Four TEM photos, four different formulations of 'quantum dots'.
Can you spot the unexpected overlap?

#ImageForensics
#ThisImageIsFine
#ScientificPublishing
Four Transmission Electron Microscopy photos in a 2x2 grid. Each has a light grey speckled background, and each shows darker dots in random patterns.
January 17, 2026 at 6:31 PM