On May 2, 2023, the international academic journal "Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders" (Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders) published online the retraction statement.

After being reported by the doctoral supervisor that the student "helped" him to publish the paper, and the supervisor was "signed", complained and retracted the manuscript, Dr. Zhou Jianbo, the deputy director of the Department of Endocrinology at Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, had another research paper due to Withdrawn for the same reason.

The whistleblower of the paper was also Yang Jinkui, his supervisor and former colleague, former director of the Department of Endocrinology at Beijing Tongren Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University.

Up to now, according to incomplete statistics, at least 4 papers have been withdrawn . And Yang Jinkui said that the number of "signed" papers has reached 6.

Zhou Jianbo provided no other response or details, according to the retraction statement. All co-authors listed on the paper at the time of submission received email notifications of the decision to retract the paper, but there was no response.

As of now, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University have not released more information or progress on the incident.

On May 2, the international academic journal "Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders" (Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders) published online a retraction statement stating that the editor-in-chief formally retracted an article titled "Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Doesn't Effect on Chinese Type 2 Diabetic Patients." Prediction of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy to Asymptomatic Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Chinese Type 2 Diabetes Individuals: An Exploratory Study. "The publisher and editor of the journal received an email from Prof. Jin-Kui Yang, MD, Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University , was mistakenly added as a co-author by the first author, Dr. Jian-Bo Zhou. Yang Jinkui also stated that there were fabricated data in the involved article."

The paper involved was published online on August 23, 2019. The first and corresponding authors of the paper are Jian-Bo Zhou, and the signing units are Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, and Tulane University Public Health, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Tropical Medicine.

Visual China data map of Beijing Tongren Hospital

The authors of the paper also include Xiao-Rong Zhu, Lu Yin, Hong-Bing Li, Lu Qi, and Yang Jinkui who claimed to be "signed".

The paper's marked "Author's Contributions" reads, "Zhou Jianbo, Lu Qi, and Yang Jinkui contributed to the experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, and prepared all figures... All authors reviewed this article."

But 4 years later, on May 2, 2023, the international academic journal "Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders" (Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders) published online a retraction statement stating that the publisher and editor of the journal received a letter from An email from Prof. Jin-Kui Yang, MD, Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, China, and Beijing Diabetes Research Institute, stated that he was unknowingly arrested by lead author Jian-Bo Zhou. Ph.D. was mistakenly added as a co-author. Yang Jinkui also said that there are fabricated data in the article involved.

The aforementioned retraction statement stated that after receiving the complaint, the journal asked Zhou Jianbo to submit the original data of the source of the article so that it could be independently evaluated, and asked him to submit detailed documents of the specific contributions of all the named authors. Dr. Zhao, another co-signed author of the paper, responded with the following message (in full): "Can you retract this article entitled 'Proliferative diabetic retinopathy predicts asymptomatic obstructive coronary artery disease in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes: an exploratory Sex Research' (2019:17(7):367–373; DOI: 10.1089/met.2018.0140 )? I apologize for the process." Zhou Jianbo provided no other response or details. Because raw data were not provided as requested, and in light of the above responses, all co-authors listed on the paper received email notification of the decision to withdraw the paper at the time of submission. But no reply was received.

According to the related paper, compared with patients without diabetic retinopathy, individuals with diabetic retinopathy had a 2.16-fold higher risk of developing asymptomatic obstructive coronary artery disease (P < 0.01). Diabetic retinopathy outperforms traditional risk factors in screening for asymptomatic obstructive coronary artery disease. Diabetic retinopathy predicts high-risk groups for asymptomatic obstructive coronary artery disease. But that paper has now been retracted.

The Paper noticed that before the publication of the above paper, in 2018, Zhou Jianbo and Lu Changfeng also published a similar Chinese paper titled "Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy Effects on Asymptomatic Coronary Atherosclerotic Heart Disease in Type 2 Diabetic Patients". Identification". The paper concludes that proliferative diabetic retinopathy helps identify asymptomatic coronary atherosclerotic heart disease in patients with type 2 diabetes compared with traditional risk factors. The paper was published in the academic journal "Journal of Clinic and Pathology". Zhou Jianbo is the "corresponding author" of the paper. The funding project marked in this study is the Young Talents Project of Beijing Hospital Administration (QML20170204).

The related website of Beijing Tongren Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, Zhou Jianbo, MD, Chief Physician, Associate Professor, Postgraduate Supervisor, Party Branch Secretary of Endocrine Nutrition, the Deputy Director of the Department of Endocrinology presided over the work, and the Deputy Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases presided over the work. He graduated from Capital Medical University in 2010 and has been working in the Endocrinology Department of the hospital since August of the same year. He has been engaged in basic and clinical work on endocrine and metabolic diseases for many years, and is committed to the diagnosis and treatment of senile diabetes, thyroid-related eye disease, and refractory hypertension; "2019 From 2020 to 2020, he will be a visiting scholar at the School of Public Health of Tulane University in the United States, and he will be a Chinese scholar with high academic influence in 2020. He has presided over a number of National Natural Science Foundation of China, special scientific research funds for doctoral disciplines in higher education institutions of the Ministry of Education, and Beijing Hospital Management Center "Young Miao" talent project, outstanding talent project in Dongcheng District, Beijing... Acting as deputy editor-in-chief of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, invited deputy editor-in-chief of Frontiers in Neuroscience and Frontiers in Endocrinology; social part-time job: member of Diabetes Branch of Beijing Medical Association, Diabetes of Chinese Preventive Medicine Association Member of the Prevention and Control Professional Committee, Youth Vice Chairman of the Diabetes Society of China Research Hospital, Youth Committee of the Metabolic Disease Branch of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association."

According to the previous reports of The Paper, Zhou Jianbo presided over from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2018, in the "Outcome" of a National Natural Science Foundation of China (approval number 81670738) with a funding of 1.5 million yuan. A paper by Lieming is one of the papers claimed by Yang Jinkui to be "signed". Under Yang Jinkui's appeal, on March 18, 2023, the paper was withdrawn. The title of the paper in question is "Does Intensive Blood Pressure Control Really Reduce Diabetic Retinopathy Outcomes?" Could Intensive Blood Pressure Control Really Reduce Diabetic Retinopathy Outcomes? Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis from Randomized Controlled Trials. Published online in the international academic journal Diabetes Therapy on August 31, 2018. Five years later, on March 18, 2023, the paper was retracted. The retraction notes stated, "Yang Jinkui, one of the corresponding authors, was not aware of the submission of this article and did not agree to its publication. It is not yet possible to determine who is responsible for the work reported. Therefore, the editors-in-chief no longer have any responsibility for the results and conclusions presented. Have confidence."

Attached is the paper published by Yang Jinkui who claimed to be "signed":

1. The paper "Interaction of Wnt pathway related variants with type 2 diabetes in a Chinese Han population" published online on the international academic journal PeerJ on October 20 , 2015 population). The signed corresponding author is Yang Jinkui; withdrawn on November 18, 2022.

Paper link: https://peerj.com/articles/1304/

Retraction instructions link: https://peerj.com/articles/1304/retraction/

2. In 2016 , the paper "Exploring the Correlation between Chronic Kidney Disease and Subclinical Hypothyroidism in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Case-Control Study and Dose-Effect Analysis" was published online in the Chinese academic journal "Journal of Clinic and Pathology", The corresponding author is Yang Jinkui, who has not been withdrawn.

Paper link: https://lcbl.amegroups.com/article/view/4756

3. The paper "Subclinical hypothyroidism and the risk of chronic kidney disease in T2D subjects: a case-control and dose-response analysis" was published online in the international academic journal "Medicine" in April 2017 . risk of chronic kidney disease in T2D subjects: A case-control and dose-response analysis), the corresponding authors are Zhou Jianbo and Yang Jinkui; withdrawn on March 10, 2023.

Link to the paper: https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/Fulltext/2017/04140/Subclinical_hypothyroidism_and_the_risk_of_chronic.16.aspx

Retraction instructions link: https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/Fulltext/2023/03100/Subclinical_hypothyroidism_and_the_risk_of_chronic.71.aspx

4. On August 31, 2018 , the paper "Can intensive blood pressure control really reduce the outcome of diabetic retinopathy?" was published online in the international academic journal "Diabetes Therapy" (Diabetes Therapy). Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis from Randomized Controlled Trials" (Could Intensive Blood Pressure Control Really Reduce Diabetic Retinopathy Outcomes? Evidence from Meta-Analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis from Randomized Controlled Trials), the corresponding authors are Zhou Jianbo and Yang Jinkui. On March 18, 2023, the paper was retracted.

Paper link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13300-018-0497-y

Retraction instructions link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13300-023-01396-3

5. On November 4, 2019 , the paper "Is Vitamin D Associated with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy?" was published online in the international academic journal Hormone and Metabolic Research. "Could Vitamin D be Associated with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy? Evidence from Pooling Studies" (Could Vitamin D be Associated with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy? Evidence from Pooling Studies), the corresponding authors are Zhou Jianbo and Yang Jinkui;

Paper link: https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-1010-6449

6. On August 23, 2019 , the paper "Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy and Asymptomatic Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Chinese Type 2 Diabetic Patients" was published online in the international academic journal "Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders" Prediction of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy to Asymptomatic Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease in Chinese Type 2 Diabetes Individuals: An Exploratory Study, the first author and corresponding author are both Jian-Bo Zhou. On May 2, 2023, the paper was retracted.

Paper link: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/met.2018.0140

Retraction instructions link: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/met.2018.0140.retract