A March 2020 paper that promoted the controversial claim that hydroxychloroquine could potentially treat COVID-19 is once again under scrutiny, with some of its authors asking for their names to be removed from the article.
According to the Retraction Watch database, the lead author, retired researcher Didier Raoult, has had 12 articles retracted. Those articles involved violations of ethics rules. Journals are investigating several other articles written by Raoult and his colleagues, including their work on hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid.
The paper, “Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as treatment for COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial,” was published in . International Journal for Antimicrobial Agents, According to Clarivate's Web of Science, it has been cited over 3,000 times.
Soon after publication, critics pointed out flaws in the article. The journal ordered a review, in which Frits Rosendaal of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands called the researchers “totally irresponsible” for presenting flawed information as well as “the potential serious side effects of hydroxychloroquine.” In an official statement, The International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC), which co-owns the journal with Elsevier, said in April 2020 that the article “does not meet the Society's expected standard.”
Nevertheless, the journal did not withdraw the paper. In an editorial published with the critical reviews, the ISAC leadership wrote:
We believe that beyond the importance of sharing observational data at the peak of the pandemic, a robust public scientific debate should be provided in an open and transparent manner about the findings of this paper.
A group of scientists again called for its retraction in an email sent to Elsevier on June 3 and seen by Retraction Watch. Despite ISAC's April 2020 statement of concern, “nothing has happened during the past four years, which seems to us to be unusually long,” the scientists wrote. In addition, three of the authors told the group that they had asked to have their names removed from the paper at the end of 2023, the group wrote.
A representative from Elsevier responded to the group's email three days later, confirming that three authors had asked to have their names removed from the paper “based on concerns about the article's methodology.” The representative told us they “could not disclose” which authors had made the request, or when they had done so.
The representative also said the journal was reopening a previously closed investigation after receiving requests from authors.
Raoult has not responded to our email seeking comment.
Fabrice Franck, one of the authors of the email and a retired independent researcher, told us that at least two authors were added “without their consent and without their knowledge.” The authors requested anonymity.
Lonnie Besancon, a researcher at Linköping University in Linköping, Sweden, called the fact that the article is still available “unacceptable”, adding: “All concerns were raised years ago and this article clearly amounts to a waste of scientific effort, money and time.”
Besancon and Frank have also raised concerns about other papers by authors affiliated with the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Mediterranee Infection (IHU-MI) in Marseille, France, where Raoult was a former director. Nearly all authors of the March 2020 paper are affiliated with the IHU-MI.
Elsevier is investigating some of these claims, and has raised more than 100 concerns.
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