Should the dissemination of scientific knowledge remain the prerogative of scientific journals, their authors and their evaluators, or can lawyers get involved? A recent event suggests, once again, that the answer is no longer so obvious. According to online media, Retraction clock This summer, Raphaël Lévy, a professor at the Sorbonne-Paris-Nord University, received a letter in May from an American lawyer representing a prestigious chemist, Chad Mirkin, a professor at Northwestern University in Chicago and recent Kavli Prize winner. The letter ordered the Frenchman to “Stop spreading false accusations” and of “remove false information sent to Proceedings of the American Academy of Sciences [PNAS] »This last point refers to a common practice in the scientific world. When an article is published, in this case an article that gives an overview of the situation in a field (a “review article” or “review” in the jargon), other scientists can send their critiques to the journal. After peer review, these can be published.
This process has stalled here. “I was critical of a article of PNAS published in February because it presented a technology as promising without talking about its flaws”Raphaël Lévy points out. The technology in question concerns nanoparticles “decorated” with DNA or RNA, intended for use in imaging techniques or in cancer therapies, and of which Chad Mirkin is one of the inventors and promoters. The critical letter sent to PNAS He recalled that the marketing of imaging applications had ceased for several years and that in therapeutic terms, particularly against carcinomas, one of the companies, Exicure, had stopped a phase 2 clinical trial (cited as promising in the article by PNAS(of which Chad Mirkin is only one of eleven authors). The letter also mentions several research articles, some of which were co-authored by Raphaël Lévy, who doubted the effectiveness of the technique to penetrate the cytoplasm of cells (and thus perform his work). None of these references appear in the February “review.”
“I was surprised to receive an email first from Chad Mirkin and then from his lawyer”Raphaël Lévy recalls. The content of the letter is quite intimidating. In addition to the formal notification, it contains attacks on the integrity of the French researcher, referring to an article submitted and “refused” by a newspaper, accusations of scientific misconduct in his former university (Liverpool), as well as “disparaging statements” on the work of his colleagues in Paris-Nord. According to Raphaël Levy, “Liverpool University did not follow up on the allegations”. As for Paris-North, “The investigation has been completed and concluded that there was no serious harassment”a university spokesperson told us.
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