Retraction: Fabrication of hollow CoS1.097 prisms toward supercapactior performance

Retraction of ‘Fabrication of hollow CoS_1.097 prisms toward supercapactior performance’ by Ruili Zhang et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 10814–10819.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to extensive overlap with the text, data and figures published in ref. 1, which means that this RSC Advances article is redundant. All the figures and tables in this RSC Advances article have been reproduced from ref. 1.The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience to readers.Signed: Ruili Zhang and Ping Yang.Date: 8^th July 2019.We do not have current contact details for the second author of the article, Yuntao Yang, as he has graduated and therefore has not been able to comment on the retraction.Retraction endorsed by Andrew Shore, Executive Editor, RSC Advances.     

Correction: Directed evolution of mevalonate kinase in Escherichia coli by random mutagenesis for improved lycopene

Correction for ‘Directed evolution of mevalonate kinase in Escherichia coli by random mutagenesis for improved lycopene’ by Hailin Chen et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 15021–15028.

The authors wish to draw the readers’ attention to their closely related paper, published in Microbial Cell Factories,¹ which should have been cited in this RSC Advances paper.The authors regret that there is unattributed overlap in text between this RSC Advances paper and ref. 1. The authors confirm that new data has been reported in this RSC Advances article.Two different rate-limiting enzymes in the lycopene synthetic pathway were studied using the same methods, mevalonate kinase (MK) in this paper and isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (IDI) in ref. 1. In the RSC Advances paper, a directed evolution strategy was used to optimize the activity of MK to enhance the tolerance for farnesyldiphosphate (FPP) and geranylgeranyldiphosphate (GGPP), to enhance the affinity of mevalonate and MK, and to improve lycopene production. The catalytic mechanisms of both enzymes are very different; however improving their activities can improve lycopene production.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Correction: Porous conducting polymer and reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for room temperature gas detection

Correction for ‘Porous conducting polymer and reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for room temperature gas detection’ by Yajie Yang et al., RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 42546–42553.

The authors wish to draw the reader’s attention to their previous related study, published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,¹ which was not cited in this RSC Advances paper. The RSC Advances paper is a valuable and necessary supplement to the publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces and focused on the reduced gas sensing performance of the devices instead of film characterization and film conductive performance.The authors regret not giving correct attribution to Fig. 1–6 which duplicate data from ref. 1 and therefore should be attributed to that paper. Additionally, there are portions of overlapping text in the discussion of these figures and the Introduction and Conclusion sections of the RSC Advances paper, which should be attributed to ref. 1.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

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     

Correction: Research status,industrial application demand and prospects of phenolic resin

Correction for ‘Research status, industrial application demand and prospects of phenolic resin’ by Yanru Xu et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 28924–28935. DOI: 10.1039/C9RA06487G.

The authors wish to draw the readers’ attention to their closely related paper written in Chinese, which was published at nearly the same time in China Adhesives,¹ and should have been cited in this RSC Advances article. In their RSC Advances article, the authors included additional information about increasing the production and consumption data of phenolic resin in the global market. Further information about new technologies and modification research on phenolic resin (non-toxic resin, non-formaldehyde phenolic resin) was also included in the English article.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologises for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Retraction: Functional disruption of staphylococcal accessory regulator A from Staphylococcus aureus by silver ions

Retraction of ‘Functional disruption of staphylococcal accessory regulator A from Staphylococcus aureus by silver ions’ by Xiangwen Liao et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 33221–33226. DOI: 10.1039/D0RA06357F.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article as there is an error in the data and the conclusions of the paper are not supported.Fig. 3B does not show the titration data of SarA, it is the titration data of a different protein, and therefore we cannot unequivocally conclude that SarA binds Ag⁺via its conserved cysteine residues.The corresponding authors regret this oversight and apologise for any inconvenience to readers.Signed: Xiangwen Liao, Guijuan Jiang, Jing Wang and Jintao WangDate: 17^th February 2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Structural characterization of ginseng oligopeptides and anti-aging potency evaluation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Retraction of ‘Structural characterization of ginseng oligopeptides and anti-aging potency evaluation in Caenorhabditis elegans’ by Qiang Luo et al., RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 39485–39494, https://doi.org/10.1039/D0RA06093C.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to a significant amount of unattributed text overlap with articles by different author groups that were not cited, including articles published in Phytochemistry by Shan Su et al.¹ and Journal of Functional Foods by Elena M. Vayndorf et al.²Zhigang Liu agrees to the retraction. The other authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 25^th April 2022     

Retraction: Graphene oxide/DNA-decorated electrode for the fabrication of microRNA biosensor

Retraction of ‘Graphene oxide/DNA-decorated electrode for the fabrication of microRNA biosensor’ by Erlin Sun et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 69334–69338, DOI: 10.1039/C5RA12373A.

We, the named authors, hereby wholly retract this RSC Advances article due to a lack of reproducibility in the results of the paper. We have been unable to replicate the results of miRNA detection, shown in Fig. 8, and as a result, the conclusions of this paper are not supported.Signed: Erlin Sun, Lining Wang, Xiaodong Zhou, Chengquan Ma, Yan Sun, Mingde Lei, Bingxin Lu and Ruifa HanDate: 14^th July 2020Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: LncRNA ZEB2-AS1 regulates the drug resistance of acute myeloid leukemia via the miR-142-3p/INPP4B axis

Retraction of ‘LncRNA ZEB2-AS1 regulates the drug resistance of acute myeloid leukemia via the miR-142-3p/INPP4B axis’ by Kai Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 39495–39504, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA07854A.

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 raw data provided by the authors, were screened by an image integrity expert. The raw data provided by the authors was found to closely resemble raw data for a number of other articles, which is unexpected given that there are completely different author lists for these articles.In addition, the paper was analysed by experts who fact-checked the identities of the described nucleotide sequence reagents,¹ and found errors with the following nucleotide sequence reagents reported in the article: ZEB2-AS1 forward and reverse primers and miR-142-3p reverse primer. The claimed identities of the nucleotide sequences for the reported primers are incorrect and, therefore, the results shown in Fig. 1–6 are unreliable.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.Kai Wang opposes the retraction. The other 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: Magnetic Fe3O4@NiO hierarchical structures: preparation and their excellent As(v) and Cr(vi) removal capabilities

Retraction of ‘Magnetic Fe₃O₄@NiO hierarchical structures: preparation and their excellent As(v) and Cr(vi) removal capabilities’ by Shouwei Zhang et al., RSC Adv., 2013, 3, 2754–2764, DOI: 10.1039/C2RA22495J.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the named authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article. The authors requested to retract this article because they admitted that the TEM characterization of the Fe₃O₄@NiO hierarchical microspheres in Fig. 4c was duplicated from the characterization of Fe₃O₄@NiAl-LDH microspheres in Fig. S4B from a J. Am. Chem. Soc. paper by Mingfei Shao et al. without permission.¹ The authors would like to apologise to the authors of ref. 1, and for any inconvenience to readers.Signed: Shouwei Zhang, Jiaxing Li, Jinzhang Xu and Xiangke WangDate: 11th August 2021Tao Wen was contacted but did not respondRetraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Structural characterization of centipede oligopeptides and capability detection in human small cell lung carcinoma: inducing apoptosis

Retraction of ‘Structural characterization of centipede oligopeptides and capability detection in human small cell lung carcinoma: inducing apoptosis’ by JingQuan Zhao et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 10927–10936, https://doi.org/10.1039/C8RA09018A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to a significant amount of unattributed text overlap throughout the article, and particularly with ref. 1 in the Results and discussion section and ref. 2 in the Conclusion section.Jie Liu opposes the retraction. The other authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 29^th March 2022     

Retraction: ASIC1a involves acidic microenvironment-induced activation and autophagy of pancreatic stellate cells

Retraction of ‘ASIC1a involves acidic microenvironment-induced activation and autophagy of pancreatic stellate cells’ by Tao Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 30950–30956, DOI: 10.1039/C8RA03679A.

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. After publication, the authors contacted the journal to explain that the published western blot images had been edited and arranged because some bands not mentioned in the article had been deleted and the loading order of the samples in the original experimental groups had been adjusted. There is evidence of manipulation affecting the western blot images in Fig. 3A and 4A, and discrepancies in the background of Fig. 6A. The authors confirmed that they do not have the whole raw data for the published western blot images. Although the authors state that they have repeated the experiment and obtained similar results, the concerns over the integrity and validity of the images shown in the published article cannot be dispelled.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 no longer reliable. All of the authors agree with the retraction.Signed: Tao Wang, Qian-qian Wang, Gui-xia Pan, Guo-rong Jia, Xiao Li, Chao Wang, Li-ming Zhang and Chang-jing ZuoDate: 7^th April 2021Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Organometallic Ag nanostructures prepared using Hypericum perforatum extract are highly effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria

Retraction of ‘Organometallic Ag nanostructures prepared using Hypericum perforatum extract are highly effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria’ by Qaisar Maqbool et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 30562–30572.

We, the named authors, wholly retract this RSC Advances article.The authors have repeated the FTIR and TGA analyses of the nanoparticles synthesised using H. perforatum, and also obtained the original data files from the facility that carried out the initial analyses. The authors have compared the new results and the original data files with the data in the published article. They found that the graphs presented in Fig. 7a and b in the article did not correspond to neither the original data nor the new analysis. They also found that the same TGA graph (Fig. 7b) was used in previous articles by the first author but representing a different material.^1,2The Institute of Plant Genetics of the Polish Academy of Sciences have confirmed to the Royal Society of Chemistry that graphs presented in Fig. 7 of this RSC Advances article were manipulated.The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to readers.Signed: Dariusz Kruszka, Piotr Kachlicki and Gregory FranklinDate: 5^th April 2019Qaisar Maqbool opposes this retraction.Retraction endorsed by Andrew Shore, 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     

Retraction: Structural characterization of Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) oligopeptides and the detection of their capability in non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells: induction of apoptosis

Retraction of ‘Structural characterization of Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae) oligopeptides and the detection of their capability in non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells: induction of apoptosis’ by Jiao Dong et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 8300–8309, https://doi.org/10.1039/C9RA00090A.

The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to a significant amount of unattributed text overlap throughout the article, and particularly in the Results and Discussion sections, with a paper by Hongyu Li et al. in Frontiers in Pharmacology that was not cited in the article.¹Jiao Dong, Xianxin Zhang, Chunxiao Qu, Xuedong Rong and Jie Liu oppose the retraction. Yiqing Qu has been informed but has not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction.Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC AdvancesDate: 29^th March 2022     

Retraction: Tuning the chemistry of graphene oxides by a sonochemical approach: application of adsorption properties

Retraction of ‘Tuning the chemistry of graphene oxides by a sonochemical approach: application of adsorption properties’ by Yubing Sun et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 24886–24892, DOI: 10.1039/C5RA02021B.

The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the named authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article.The TEM image in Fig. 1B duplicates data published in another publication by Pan et al., but presented as different materials.¹The AFM images in Fig. 1C and D illustrate duplication of data, given that these experiments were reported under different reaction conditions.The EXAFS spectra in Fig. 4 duplicate data in another publication, but reported as different materials.²Given the number and significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Yubing Sun, Shubin Yang, Congcong Ding and Wencai ChengDate: 27^th March 2020Zhongxiu Jin was contacted but did not respond.Retraction 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     

Expression of concern: One-pot sol–gel synthesis of reduced graphene oxide uniformly decorated zinc oxide nanoparticles in starch environment for highly efficient photodegradation of methylene blue

Expression of concern for ‘One-pot sol–gel synthesis of reduced graphene oxide uniformly decorated zinc oxide nanoparticles in starch environment for highly efficient photodegradation of methylene blue’ by Majid Azarang et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 21888–21896.

The following article ‘One-pot sol–gel synthesis of reduced graphene oxide uniformly decorated zinc oxide nanoparticles in starch environment for highly efficient photodegradation of methylene blue’ by Majid Azarang*^ab, Ahmad Shuhaimi^a, Ramin Yousefi^c and Siamak Pilban Jahromi^a has been published in RSC Advances. RSC Advances is publishing this expression of concern in order to alert our readers to the fact that we are presently unable to confirm the accuracy of the data reported in Fig. 2(a, b) and 5 of this RSC Advances paper.We have contacted the University of Malaya to request an investigation into the validity of the published figures. We understand that an investigative process is on-going at the University of Malaya, and this notice will be updated when a final outcome is reached.Andrew Shore2nd March 2018Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Retraction: Simultaneous sorption and reduction of U(vi) on magnetite–reduced graphene oxide composites investigated by macroscopic,spectroscopic and modeling techniques

Retraction of ‘Simultaneous sorption and reduction of U(vi) on magnetite–reduced graphene oxide composites investigated by macroscopic, spectroscopic and modeling techniques’ by Wencai Cheng et al., RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 59677–59685, DOI: 10.1039/C5RA10451C.

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 SEM image in Fig. 1C duplicates data published in another publication, but reported as different materials.¹There are unexpected similarities in the XPS spectra presented for M1–rGO and M5–rGO in Fig. 2A.Repeating fragments can be observed in the baseline of the XRD spectrum for GO presented in Fig. 2B, which indicate that it has been manipulated. In addition, the XRD spectrum for M5–rGO in Fig. 2B duplicates data published in ref. 1 and 2, but they have been reported as different materials.Given the number and significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.Signed: Wencai Cheng, Zhongxiu Jin, Congcong Ding and Maolin WangDate: 27^th March 2020Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances     

Expression of concern: Self-assembled membrane manufactured by metal–organic framework (UiO-66) coated γ-Al2O3 for cleaning oily seawater

Expression of concern for ‘Self-assembled membrane manufactured by metal–organic framework (UiO-66) coated γ-Al₂O₃ for cleaning oily seawater’ by Cunlong Li et al., RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 10702–10714, DOI: 10.1039/C9RA00521H.

The following article ‘Self-assembled membrane manufactured by metal–organic framework (UiO-66) coated γ-Al₂O₃ for cleaning oily seawater’ has been published in RSC Advances.The XRD data shown in Fig. 6b is the same for the UA composites (shown in green) and UiO-66 particles (shown in red), with the exception of two peaks that are not present in the UiO-66 pattern.In Fig. 7a, the panel for 0.03 MPa is a rotated and processed duplicate of the panel for 0.02 MPa.The authors were contacted for comment and asked to provide raw data but have not responded to these concerns. RSC Advances is publishing this Expression of Concern to alert readers to the concerns raised. An Expression of Concern will continue to be associated with the article until we receive conclusive evidence regarding the reliability of the reported data.Laura Fisher11^th February 2022Executive Editor, RSC Advances