Dr. Welch announced his resignation Sept. 13. He served as a professor of medicine, economics and health policy. “I feel that I can no longer participate in the research misconduct process against me — as I fear my participation only serves to validate it,” he told colleagues in an email, according to the report.
Samir Soneji, PhD, an associate professor at Dartmouth, and Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez, PhD, a UC Los Angeles associate professor, claimed Dr. Welch’s 2016 article copied their idea, motivation and analytic approach from a paper rejected from NEJM in 2015. A Dartmouth investigation into the complaint concluded Dr. Welch “engaged in research misconduct, namely, plagiarism.”
The dean of the medical school proposed Dr. Welch revise the article to list Drs. Soneji and Beltrán-Sánchez as first authors and resign from teaching. The dean said Dr. Welch could remain a Dartmouth employee.
NEJM has refused to retract the article, calling it an authorship dispute, according to STAT. The U.S. Office of Research Integrity agreed with NEJM‘s conclusion. Dr. Welch acknowledged that data from Dr. Soneji was an influence but said he has spent his career researching similar ideas and methods.
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