18. RETRACTED: Application and effect of plant growth promoting bacteria isolated from medicinal plants on root development in maize
Main Article Content
Abstract
On the request of Ms. Arooj Ashraf, whose work was published without her consent and getting a confirmation by Mr. Syed Sikandar Habib as shown in the below emails, the Editor has retracted the research article entitled “Application and effect of plant growth promoting bacteria isolated from medicinal plants on root development in maize”. Which was published in the December-2019, Pure Appl. Biol., 8(4): 2277-228, http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2019.80174.”
The reason for the retraction was based on the violation of the PAB Publication Ethics Statement by the authors. The authors were also banned for submission and publication in the PAB for three years.
1. Email Received from Arooj Ashraf: ([email protected])
Hello Sir, hope you are doing well. I am Arooj Ashraf and I have done my M. Phil. from Qauid e Azam University Islamabad. Hereby, I want to inform you about unlawful publication of my research paper in your journal Pure and Applied Biology. I have attached e copy of my thesis and paper. You can check that this was my research work in Qauid e Azam University, but my colleagues named Syed Sikandar Habib and his wife Saira Naz published it in your journal secretly, without my consent. We were doing lectureship at university of Sargodha sub campus Mianwali. This sub campus of Mianwali did not have such high level equipment required for this work. This sub-campus is now upgraded as University of Mianwali and is developing now. I performed this work in plant microbe interaction lab of Qauid e Azam University as well as NACR. All these things are mentioned in my thesis, and you can check. I request you to cancel publication of my research work and also cancel membership of Syed Sikandar Habib et al. I am looking forward for your positive and timely response.
Regards!
Arooj Ashraf
Former M. Phil. Scholar
Qauid e Azam University Islamabad
2. Reply received from Syed Sikandar Habib ([email protected]):
Dear Editor,
Yes, this work belongs to Miss Arooj Ashraf (our ex-colleague) at the University of Mianwali (previously known as the university of Sargodha sub campus). In the beginning, she gives this research work to us and decided to work on it for publication. meanwhile, she left the university, and unfortunately, we lost contact with her. we have already worked so hard on it and bring it to publishable form. we tried to contact her but we were unable to find her. Therefore, we just published it. you can remove this article from the journal site. hope this answer will help her and the journal authority to solve this issue in harmony.
Regards
Syed Sikandar Habib