The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) is named for its creator, Donald Morisky, now a professor emeritus in community health at UCLA. As the name implies, the measure allows researchers to assess patients’ adherence to drug regimens. Morisky made a business out of licensing the scale and demanding steep fees for researchers who failed to obtain the proper permissions, as was reported in Science in 2017.

In May, 2025, the authors of a September 2024 paper in Cureus on medication adherence for patients with cardiovascular disease requested the retraction of their paper for "use of a copyrighted scale without the necessary permissions", according to the notice.

By Retraction Watch's count, there have been at least nine retractions for licensing issues related to the MMAS. But not all retractions of papers that use the scale explicitly cite a reason in the notice, so the number is likely higher. 

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2025/09/02/papers-continue-to-face-retractions-for-failure-to-license-pricy-tool/

Another high-profile case has interested scientists. Read now