Retraction: Challenges and opportunities of hydrothermal carbonisation in the UK; case study in Chirnside

Retraction of ‘Challenges and opportunities of hydrothermal carbonisation in the UK; case study in Chirnside’ by Eloise Bevan et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 31586–31610, DOI: 10.1039/d0ra04607h.

We, the authors, hereby wholly retract this article due to an error in the calculations. In this article, only the electrical energy demand of Chirnside’s residents was considered and the total energy supply from the hydrochar produced by the modelled plant was taken as the total HHV (higher heating value) energy content contained in these pellets. Thus, the following calculations did not consider the efficiencies in the conversion of hydrochar into its usable forms of energy (electricity and thermal energies). Therefore, the statement that HTC can provide Chirnside’s residents with 35.6% of their energy demand is fundamentally incorrect.Having consulted with an independent expert, the Royal Society of Chemistry has determined that any changes made to the paper to correct this would be major, and therefore that the best course of action is retraction and republication of the article with the correct data. The Royal Society of Chemistry is happy that the overall conclusions of the paper are not affected by this error, and therefore that republication of the work with the correct data is appropriate. The republished article was peer reviewed and can be found at https://doi.org/10.1039/D1RA06736B.We, the authors, brought this matter to the attention of the Royal Society of Chemistry ourselves, and are happy with the decision to retract and republish this article.Signed: Eloise Bevan, Jile Fu and Ying ZhengDate: 15/10/2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Boric acid in magnetized water: clean and powerful media for synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones

Retraction of ‘Boric acid in magnetized water: clean and powerful media for synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones’ by Vahid Khakyzadeh et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 22751–22755. DOI: 10.1039/D1RA03769B

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article. Although we maintain that the results obtained in distilled water are accurate, and believe that further experiments will confirm our conclusions, following discussions between the authors and the Royal Society of Chemistry, we have determined that the evidence presented regarding magnetised water in this paper is insufficient to support the conclusions and needs further investigation. We are therefore retracting the paper to maintain the validity of the scientific record. The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for the fact that these concerns were not identified during the peer review process.Signed: Vahid Khakyzadeh*^,a, Ahmad Reza Moosavi-Zare^b, Sahra Sheikhaleslami^a, Amir Ehsani^a, Salbin Sediqi^a, Mohammad Rezaei-Gohar^b and Zahra Jalilian^cDate: 27^th August 2021.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances, 27^th, August 2021.     

Retraction: LncRNA NEXN-AS1 attenuates proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells through sponging miR-33a/b

Retraction of ‘LncRNA NEXN-AS1 attenuates proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells through sponging miR-33a/b’ by Leiming Wu et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 27856–27864, https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA06282C.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The authors were asked to provide the raw data for the article, but stated they were unable to locate the raw data and asked to retract the article.The western blots in Fig. 4F and 6D have been over-contrasted to the point where the background has almost been erased. In addition, there appear to be splice marks in the MMP-2 and β-actin panels in Fig. 7D, indicating that the images may have been manipulated. The authors are unable to provide verifiable raw data that could be used to validate the published images.Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, and the lack of raw data, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.The authors have not responded to any subsequent correspondence regarding the wording of the retraction notice.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 18th August 2022     

Retraction: Eosin Y catalysed photoredox synthesis: a review

Retraction of ‘Eosin Y catalysed photoredox synthesis: a review’ by Vishal Srivastava et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 31377–31392, https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA05444K.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances review article due to significant portions of text overlap with a number of sources throughout the review article, in particular ref. 17, 24, 46, 49–54, 56–62 and 67 of the original article and ref. 1–6 below. Although many of these articles have been cited, it was not made clear that some of the text was reproduced from these articles.Signed: Vishal Srivastava, Praveen P. SinghDate: 13/10/2022Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Self-association of L-periaxin occurs via its acidic domain and NLS2/NLS3, and affects its trafficking in RSC96 cells

Retraction of ‘Self-association of L-periaxin occurs via its acidic domain and NLS2/NLS3, and affects its trafficking in RSC96 cells’ by Yenan Yang et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 44112–44123, DOI: 10.1039/C7RA06853K

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article. The authors confirmed that the western blot images in Fig. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7 had been inappropriately manipulated. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Yenan Yang, Min Liang and Yawei ShiDate: 8^th April 2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Correction: Solid-state nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles with tunable emission prepared by a microwave-assisted method

Correction for ‘Solid-state nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles with tunable emission prepared by a microwave-assisted method’ by Fitri Aulia Permatasari et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 39917–39923, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA07290K.

The authors regret that affiliation a was incorrectly given in the original article. The correct affiliations are listed in this correction notice.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Correction: Sustainable process for the preparation of potassium sulfate by electrodialysis and its concentration and purification by a nanofiltration process

Correction for ‘Sustainable process for the preparation of potassium sulfate by electrodialysis and its concentration and purification by a nanofiltration process’ by Jaladhi S. Trivedi et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 71807–71817, DOI: 10.1039/C6RA14303B.

The authors regret that there was an error in the author affiliations given in the original article. The correct information is given in the affiliations section here.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Retraction: LncRNA SNHG5 regulates the cell viability and apoptosis of glioma cells by the miR-1297/KPNA2 axis

Retraction of ‘LncRNA SNHG5 regulates the cell viability and apoptosis of glioma cells by the miR-1297/KPNA2 axis’ by Xueyuan Li et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 1498–1506, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA08693E

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The images in the article, and the raw data provided by the authors, were screened by an image integrity expert. The backgrounds to the individual panels of the raw data were sometimes almost blank, and had very large pixels, whereas the bands themselves had good resolution. It is therefore possible that the rows of bands were placed onto false backgrounds. Therefore, the raw data provided by the authors cannot be used as verifiable raw data to validate the published data.Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of both the data in the article and the raw data provided by the authors, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable.The authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 19^th January 2021     

Retraction: Olefin epoxidation with chiral salen Mn(iii) immobilized on ZnPS-PVPA upon alkyldiamine

Retraction of ‘Olefin epoxidation with chiral salen Mn(iii) immobilized on ZnPS-PVPA upon alkyldiamine’ by J. Huang et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 19507–19514, DOI: 10.1039/C6RA00002A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to extensive overlap with other published articles by these authors, including the text, data and figures published in ref. 1, which was not cited in this article. Although there are sections of original work, there are significant portions of text overlap, particularly in the Results and discussion section. Fig. 1, 3, 4 and 5, Tables 1 and 2 and Schemes 1 and 2 in the RSC Advances article have also been reproduced from ref. 1.Signed: J. Huang, D. W. Qi, J. L. Cai and X. H. ChenDate: 19^th November 2020Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Trop2 promotes proliferation,invasion and EMT of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells through the NF-κB pathway

Retraction of ‘Trop2 promotes proliferation, invasion and EMT of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells through the NF-κB pathway’ by Nan Cheng et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 53087–53096, DOI: 10.1039/c7ra09915k.

The authors hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The authors have attempted to replicate the experiments described in the article but were unable to achieve the same results.Given the lack of reliable raw data, the authors can no longer guarantee that the findings presented in this paper are accurate.Signed: Junpeng LuoDate: 24^th February 2022Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Correction: Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity of a floating photocatalyst based on B–N-codoped TiO2 grafted on expanded perlite

Correction for ‘Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity of a floating photocatalyst based on B–N-codoped TiO₂ grafted on expanded perlite’ by Xin Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 41385–41392, https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ra06056g.

The Royal Society of Chemistry has been made aware of a closely related paper, published by the authors at nearly the same time in Applied Surface Science.¹ Although different data and results are reported in each article, the Applied Surface Science article should have been cited in this RSC Advances article.The authors have been contacted but have not responded to our communication.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Correction: Synthesis and characterization of a new ZIF-67@MgAl2O4 nanocomposite and its adsorption behaviour

Correction for ‘Synthesis and characterization of a new ZIF-67@MgAl₂O₄ nanocomposite and its adsorption behaviour’ by Mehdi Davoodi et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 13245–13255, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA01056E.

The authors regret that an incorrect affiliation was given for co-author Mehdi Bazarganipour in the original article. The correct affiliations are as shown here.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Retraction: A study on the luminescence properties of gamma-ray-irradiated white light emitting Ca2Al2SiO7:Dy3+ phosphors fabricated using a combustion-assisted method

Retraction of ‘A study on the luminescence properties of gamma-ray-irradiated white light emitting Ca₂Al₂SiO₇:Dy³⁺ phosphors fabricated using a combustion-assisted method’ by Geetanjali Tiwari et al., RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 49317–49327, https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA04913C.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.Following the previous publication of a correction, which was published after an institutional investigation, to correct errors in Fig. 10(a, b), 11(a, b), 12(a, b), 15, 18 and 19, further instances of data concerns have been identified within the corrected Fig. 10a, 11a and 12a. The corrected Fig. 10a, 11a, and 12a contain sections of identical noise and these concerns undermine the integrity of this article.Given the significance of these concerns, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.This retraction supersedes the information provided in the correction related to this article and the correction is no longer valid.The authors were informed about the retraction of the article. Nameeta Brahme has not agreed with the decision, the other authors have not responded.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 13/10/2022     

Correction: Curcumin encapsulation in Pickering emulsions co-stabilized by starch nanoparticles and chitin nanofibers

Correction for ‘Curcumin encapsulation in Pickering emulsions co-stabilized by starch nanoparticles and chitin nanofibers’ by Yeong-Sheng Lee et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 16275–16284, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA01622A.

The authors regret that the affiliations for the second (Rodrigo Tarté) and corresponding author (Nuria C. Acevedo) were incorrectly shown in the original article.The correct affiliations are given here.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Retraction: Anti-cancer activity of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites synthesized from rice-based waste materials

Retraction of ‘Anti-cancer activity of hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites synthesized from rice-based waste materials’ by S. K. Jesudoss et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 481–490, https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA11763A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data.In Fig. 2 the data for (a), (b) and (c) contains sections of identical noise.In Fig. 7 there are several instances of overlapping images. Fig. 7a and e are identical, Fig. 7b and f have partial overlap, and Fig. 7c and d have partial overlap.Given the significance of these concerns, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: S. K. Jesudoss, J. Judith Vijaya, K. Kaviyarasu, L. John Kennedy, R. Jothi Ramalingam, Hamad A. Al-LohedanDate: 18^th August 2022.Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances.     

Correction: Efficient biomass saccharification using a novel cellobiohydrolase from Clostridium clariflavum for utilization in biofuel industry

Correction for ‘Efficient biomass saccharification using a novel cellobiohydrolase from Clostridium clariflavum for utilization in biofuel industry’ by Asma Zafar et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 9246–9261, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA00545F.

The authors regret that in the original article, the name and affiliation for one of the co-authors (Hasan Ufak Celebioglu) were incorrectly given. The correct name and affiliation are shown here.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Correction: Application of [PVI-SO3H]NO3 as a novel polymeric nitrating agent with ionic tags in preparation of high-energetic materials

Correction for ‘Application of [PVI-SO₃H]NO₃ as a novel polymeric nitrating agent with ionic tags in preparation of high-energetic materials’ by Hassan Sepehrmansourie et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 8367–8374, DOI: 10.1039/D1RA00651G.

The authors regret that incorrect details were given for ref. 16 in the original article. The correct version of ref. 16 is given below as ref. 1.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Correction: Integrated all-solid-state sulfite sensors modified with two different ion-to-electron transducers: rapid assessment of sulfite in beverages

Correction for ‘Integrated all-solid-state sulfite sensors modified with two different ion-to-electron transducers: rapid assessment of sulfite in beverages’ by Hisham S. M. Abd-Rabboh et al., RSC Adv., 2021, 11, 3783–3791, DOI: 10.1039/D0RA09903A.

The authors regret that the affiliations for one of the co-authors (Mohamed A. Al-Omar) were incorrectly shown in the original article. The correct affiliations are given here.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Correction: Effect of temperature and moisture contents on dielectric properties at 2.45 GHz of fruit and vegetable processing by-products

Correction for ‘Effect of temperature and moisture contents on dielectric properties at 2.45 GHz of fruit and vegetable processing by-products’ by Katalin Solyom et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 16783–16790, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA10639A.

The authors regret that the name of one of the authors (Ana Lucia Vasquez-Caicedo) was shown incorrectly in the original article. The corrected author list is as shown above.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.