A molecular ecology researcher has lost two papers and received an expression of concern for a third after coauthors flagged data issues with the papers. All three papers appeared in Molecular Ecology Resources and describe the use of DNA methylation as an epigenetic clock to predict the age of different animals. The journal retracted two of the studies in July 2025. The first, published in June 2021, estimated ages for three threatened fish species. The second appeared in April 2022 and proposes a clock for predicting the age of sea turtles.

According to both retraction notices, coauthor Simon Jarman, a researcher at Curtin University in Perth, alerted the journal to results in a figure which "are inaccurate and do not represent a real relationship between age and DNA methylation". The lead author on those two studies was Benjamin Mayne, formerly a researcher at Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), based in Canberra. Mayne agreed to both retractions, the notices say.

A third paper in Molecular Ecology Resources with Mayne as a coauthor received an expression of concern on October 16, 2025. The notice says lead author Lauren Roman raised concerns "regarding potential inaccuracies in the data presented in the article which suggest the study may not be reproducible".

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2025/11/02/former-australian-science-agency-ecology-researcher-loses-two-papers/

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