Guo et al., 2024
| Journal | Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Published | February 13, 2024 |
| ISSN | 2296-634X Valid |
| Indexed in | DOAJ, Dimensions, PubMed Central, Scopus, Web of Science |
| Categories | Science |
| Erratum | Formal retraction Feb 16, 2024 |
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology was contacted by "concerned readers" regarding "AI-generated figures" in an article by Guo et al. on February 13, 2024. Since the article did not "meet the standards of editorial and scientific rigor" for the journal, it was retracted on February 16, 2024.
The article received enormous attention in non-academic media according to Altmetric statistics. As of January 1, 2025, this includes coverage from 43 news oulets and 12,391 X users.
In this instance, the AI usage was in fact declared. A note on page 3 states that "Images in this article were generated by Midjourney." This does not, of course, alleviate the larger problem, but I regret the omission.
Some viewers may find figure 1 disturbing. I certainly did.
Bibliography
Guo X, Dong L, Hao D. RETRACTED: Cellular functions of spermatogonial stem cells in relation to JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2024;11. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1339390.
Frontiers Editorial Office. Retraction: Cellular functions of spermatogonial stem cells in relation to JAK/STAT signaling pathway. Front. Cell Dev. Biol.. 2024;12:1386861. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1386861.