The manuscript ‘Genetically modified soya bean in rabbit feeding: detection of DNA fragments and evaluation of metabolic effects by enzymatic analysis” by R. Tudisco, P. Lombardi, F. Bovera, D. dˇAngelo, M. I. Cutrignelli, V. Mastellone, V. Terzi, L. Avallone and F. Infascelli was submitted to Animal Science on 18 July 2005. After peer-review and revision, it was accepted for publication on 1 December 2005 and published in 2006.
From November 2015, we received several expressions of concern from third parties that the electrophoresis gels presented might have been subject to unwarranted digital manipulations and that the detailed legend of Figure 2 differs from that published in a thesis associated with the research. A detailed independent investigation was carried out by animal, the successor of Animal Science, in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. The authors were notified of our concerns and asked to account for the observed irregularities. After reviewing the authors’ replies, we asked the University of Naples to which the first and the corresponding authors are affiliated to investigate further. The University commission considered that the selection of specific lanes in a gel image, when it is not intended to hide inconsistent results but aims to focus the reader’s attention to one or more relevant results, is not a breach of scientific integrity. The commission did not comment on the legend of Figure 2. We decided to post this Expression of Concern to alert our readers to our remaining concerns about this article:
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– Were the lanes deleted to produce Figures 2 and 3 part of the trial?
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– Is the legend of Figure 2 correct?
This Expression of Concern is also being published in Animal Science to improve its discoverability to readers of the original manuscript.
