[MPWG] ARTICLE RETRACTION: Retraction Note to: Molecular taxonomic tools provide more accurate estimates of species richness at less cost than traditional morphology-based taxonomic practices in a vegetation survey

[Park, Margaret E]

Ken A Thompson & Steven G Newsmaster, Biodiversity and Conservation, October 27, 2021



Retraction summary:

The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article at the request of the corresponding author. Concerns were raised regarding the data sources and reproducibility. Post-publication review of the article confirmed concerns with the data availability, and the validity of the data included in the article could not be confirmed, specifically:



*The authors have been unable to present a list of species analyzed, locality details, voucher specimens and GenBank accession numbers of ITS and rbcl genes of more than 200 samples studied.



*It appears that sequences were neither uploaded to Genbank nor to the BOLD system at the time of the study. It does appear that sequences related to this article have been uploaded to Genbank in September 2020, but as this happened six years after publication and no voucher information is presented in the article, post-publication review was unable to confirm whether these sequences were indeed derived from the research described in this article.



*The article does not appear to provide barcoding gaps between inter-specific and intra-specific divergences among the studied material, thus the claim regarding the use of these data as a suitable barcode could be considered questionable.



These findings were in agreement with the corresponding author Dr. Ken A. Thompsons’s concerns. The Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the validity of the data reported in this article. Author Ken A. Thompson agrees to this retraction. Author Steven G. Newmaster has not responded to any correspondence from the Editor or publisher about this retraction.



Link to retraction: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10531-021-02316-2


Link to original article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-014-0672-z

News of this retraction was shared by the American Botanical Council and the American Herbal Products Association.

ABC: https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalegram/volumes/volume-10/number-11-november/review-and-critique-of-dna-barcoding-article/review-and-critique-of-dna-barcoding-article/?i=HrC6BiccdZECu3fXvf0_eQ


AHPA: https://www.ahpa.org/News/LatestNews/TabId/96/ArtMID/1179/ArticleID/1741/2014-DNA-article-by-Thompson-and-Newmaster-retracted.aspx

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