Abstract
At the request of Sage and the Journal Editor, the following article has been retracted:
Hashim HT, Varney J, Qais Z, et al. Direct and Gradual Electrical Testicular Shocks Stimulate Spermatogenesis and Activate Sperms in Infertile Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial. American Journal of Men’s Health. 2024;18(6). doi: 10.1177/15579883241296881
A reader contacted the journal to note concerns regarding the data and clinical trial registration of this study.
The reader noted discrepancies between the clinical trial data provided in the registration1 and the data provided in the published article:
The Sage article states the trial was conducted January-April 2020, whereas the clinical registration site reports the dates to be June-September 2019.
The Sage article reports that 90 participants were enrolled, whereas the clinical registration states 45 participants.
The study’s ethical approval and the randomized controlled trial (RCT)’s study protocol were provided by the authors, but the documents did not meet the journal's expectations or standards. The authors have explained that the discrepancies are due to delays to ethical approvals, but their documentation indicates the approval was received in March 2019.
Sage’s investigation into the article revealed unusual author contributions; the corresponding author’s disclosed affiliation could not be verified and appears to be unrelated to the research described in the article. Further, a number of co-authors stated only contributions in the writing and editing of the article, criteria that does not meet ICMJE guidelines for authorship. Due to outstanding questions and concerns about the authenticity of the ethical approval, author contributions, and clinical trial registration for this study, this article has been retracted.
Hashim Talib Hashim disagrees with the retraction. All other authors did not respond when notified of this decision.
1. “Sperms Activation by Direct Electrical Shocks on Testis in Infertile Males” Clinicaltrials.gov. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04173052