NOTE: Science has issued a statement and a chronology of the Korean stem cell controversy.

Statement by Science Editors on Korean Stem Cell Probe

The journal Science today issued the following statement in response to news accounts of a press conference by a Seoul National University team that has been investigating the authenticity of stem-cell research article by Dr. Woo Suk Hwang:

“There is no question in our minds that the stem-cell paper published 19 May 2005 by the journal Science needs to be retracted, and we are proceeding swiftly but appropriately in that direction. As of this writing, however, editors at Science still have not received any official notification from Seoul National University regarding the interim findings just reported in the press, and so we have sent a message to the head of the investigation, Dr. Roe Jung-hye, seeking more information. Science also is continuing to try and gather all authors’ signatures for the retraction agreement.

“We feel it is important to note that retraction of a scientific paper is an editorial and bibliographic tool that is used to correct the permanent scholarly record, and it cannot be made based solely upon news reports. We are continuing, however, to proceed as quickly as possible toward a retraction of the 2005 paper.

“The latest news reports reinforce the authors’ previously received request to retract the 2005 paper. We continue to work with the authors on the wording of the retraction and obtaining the signatures needed for publication. We have given them a deadline of tomorrow, Friday, 30 December. If we have not received all of the signatures by tomorrow, Science will be moving toward running an editorial retraction, or one signed by the investigation committee itself, possibly after the final investigative report is issued.”

29 December 2005