Carlberg Fired

Retraction Watch reported in May on the story of Carsten Carlberg, a University of Eastern Finland and University of Luxembourg researcher whose job in Luxembourg was in peril because of alleged malfeasance by one of his graduate students. Even though Carlberg was not accused of having committed the alleged fraud and though the incident occurred in Finland and not in Luxembourg, the University of Luxembourg considered him responsible as he was the senior author on two retracted papers stemming from the allegedly fraudulent research and sought to dismiss him. Now, after a long review process, the university has indeed fired Carlberg "after concluding that his name was a drag on the institution," says Adam Marcus at Retraction Watch. According to an article at the Web site wort.lu, "the university today released a press release confirming his dismissal, saying that rector Rolf Tarrach took the decision out of a desire to protect the reputation of the young institution's science faculties." Although the article states that Carlberg's career is in "tatters," Marcus says, as far as is known, the researcher's position at the University of Eastern Finland is not in jeopardy.