Content area
Full Text
Researchers say the complaint filed against Elisabeth Bik could have a 'chilling effect' on scholarly criticism.
A prominent French microbiologist has filed a criminal complaint against a world-renowned research-integrity specialist after she publicly flagged concerns about his published work, including papers suggesting that the drug hydroxychloroquine was effective at treating COVID-19, a claim that has now been refuted.
The complaint was filed on 29 April to a prosecutor in Marseille, France, by a lawyer acting on behalf of Didier Raoult and structural biologist Eric Chabriere, both at the city's Hospital-University Institute Mediterranean Infection (IHU). It accuses Elisabeth Bik - a microbiologist turned research-integrity consultant, based in California - of aggravated moral harassment, attempted blackmail and attempted extortion.
Bik - whose work scrutinizing images in research papers has earned her a worldwide following and has led to more than 170 retractions - denies these allegations and says that her comments about the pair's work are standard scientific critiques.
More than 1,000 scientists have rallied to support her in an open letter that claims the case could have a "chilling effect" on scholarly criticism.
Potential problems
Raoult leads the IHU, an institute dedicated to the study of infectious diseases, and is well known for his work on gigantic mimiviruses. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, he shot to global prominence after he authored a preprint, with Chabriere and others, describing a small study that suggested the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine could be used to treat people hospitalized with COVID-19. Many thought the drug was promising, including former US president Donald Trump, but it was later shown to...