Frenn Marilyn, Salzman Nita, Lam Vy, Holtz Mary, Moosreiner Andrea, Garnier-Villarreal Mauricio
College of Nursing, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Center for Microbiome Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Child Obes. 2023 Feb 2. doi: 10.1089/chi.2022.0171.
The Editor-in-Chief of officially retracts the article entitled, "Body Mass Index and Gut Microbiome: A Cluster-Randomized, Controlled, Pilot Feasibility Study," by Frenn M, Salzman N, Lam V, Holtz M, Moosreiner A, and Garnier M. (Child Obes. 2023 Feb 2 ahead of print. doi: 10.1089/chi.2022.0171). After the Online Now (epub) publication of the paper, the Editor of the journal received an email from a reader with concerns regarding fundamental flaws in the study. The journal's Editor-in-Chief provided this letter to the authors of the article and provided an opportunity to respond. The authors addressed several of the comments but defended their main analysis. The Editor made the decision to retract the paper based on the following: (a) the distinction between a weakness or limitation in research vs invalid or incorrect methods is important; (b) weaknesses and limitations can be addressed by acknowledging them, whereas errors merit correction of the scientific record; and (c) the author response did not indicate that their original paper used correct and valid methods and it was therefore judged to be unreliable and meriting retraction. The Editor-in-Chief of asked highly experienced statisticians to re-review the paper in conjunction with the complainant's statements. The statisticians all are considered experts in their field and familiar with the issue being debated and have no affiliation or relationship with the complainants or the authors. After carefully examining the article, the statisticians agreed that flaws exist, most importantly that clustering and nesting should be accounted for in the statistical analysis given the cluster randomized design, thereby rendering the results biased and invalid. Based on the statisticians' assessments of the published article and the authors' reanalysis, the Editor of is no longer confident in the results and, though the authors are not in agreement, officially retracts the article from the literature. See the official Retraction Notice (10.1089/chi.2022.0171.retract) to view the original letter from the complainant, and the authors' responses, which are included as supplemental material for clarity.
《儿童肥胖》杂志主编正式撤回Frenn M、Salzman N、Lam V、Holtz M、Moosreiner A和Garnier M撰写的题为《体重指数与肠道微生物群：一项整群随机对照试验的可行性初步研究》的文章（《儿童肥胖》，2023年2月2日在线优先发表。doi:10.1089/chi.2022.0171）。该论文在线优先发表后，杂志编辑收到一位读者的电子邮件，对该研究的根本缺陷表示担忧。杂志主编将这封信发给了文章作者，并提供了回应机会。作者对部分评论进行了回应，但坚持其主要分析。主编基于以下几点决定撤回该论文：（a）研究中的弱点或局限性与无效或错误的方法之间的区别很重要；（b）弱点和局限性可以通过承认来解决，而错误则需要纠正科学记录；（c）作者的回应并未表明其原始论文使用了正确有效的方法，因此被判定为不可靠且应予以撤回。《儿童肥胖》杂志主编邀请经验丰富的统计学家结合投诉人的陈述重新审查该论文。这些统计学家均被视为各自领域的专家，熟悉正在辩论的问题，且与投诉人或作者无任何关联或关系。在仔细审查该文章后，统计学家们一致认为存在缺陷，最重要的是，鉴于整群随机设计，在统计分析中应考虑聚类和嵌套因素，从而导致结果存在偏差且无效。基于统计学家对已发表文章的评估以及作者的重新分析，《儿童肥胖》杂志编辑对结果不再有信心，尽管作者不同意，但仍正式从文献中撤回该文章。请查看官方撤回通知（10.1089/chi.2022.0171.retract）以查看投诉人的原始信件以及作者的回复，这些内容作为补充材料以确保清晰明了。
