The study, which investigated a microRNA’s links to autism, appears to contain duplicated and fabricated data, according to research integrity analysts. Those issues reflect a larger problem in the literature.

In this edition, researchers sink a purported link between cerebellar volume and autism and buoy a theory about measuring social behaviors.

Our editorial team also took home seven regional awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

The “tortured phrases” — strangely worded paraphrases of established terms — may be the work of software that attempts to disguise plagiarism.

Previous Spectrum reporting called out this paper and several others — all on unrelated subjects — that mysteriously cite autism papers.

Early interventions for autism lack solid data. The source of this problem is murky but may stem from ongoing debates about evidence quality and entrenched conflicts of interest within the field.

Tony Charman and Catherine Lord answer questions from Spectrum’s webinar on the Lancet Commission’s recommendations for autism research.

A failed replication and other problems led autism researcher Beth Stevens and her co-investigator to retract the nearly 10-year-old report.

Autism studies are appearing in the reference lists of entirely unrelated papers, suggesting what a few scholars worry is a plot to manipulate citations.

Researchers requested the retraction of their study linking low vitamin A levels to sleep troubles in autistic children after discovering “fundamental errors” in their data.