Effects of organic ligands on fractionation of rare earth elements (REEs) in hydroponic plants: An application to the determination of binding capacities by humic acid for modelling

摘要

The paper by Ding et al. (2006) contains portions that we believe were plagiarized from two recent papers of ours, namely Tang and Johannesson (2003) and Johannesson et al. (2004). Perhaps most disturbing is Table 1 of Ding et al. (2006). Here, the authors of Ding et al. (2006) present pK_(MHA) values that were clearly copied directly from Table 5 of Tang and Johannesson (2003); however, this fact is not mentioned anywhere in Table 1. Below the table Ding et al. present two linear free-energy equations that they also do not explicitly state were taken from Tang and Johannesson (2003). (Their Eqs. (1) and (2) are, in fact, Eqs. (3) and (1), respectively, from Tang and Johannesson (2003).) By our reading, it almost appears as if Ding et al. (2006) are implying that they derived these rather simple equations following some procedure discussed by Tipping (1993) and/or Tang and Johannesson (2003), when, in fact, they simply took them from Tang and Johannesson (2003). Even worse, they also seem to be implying that they calculated the estimated pK_(MHA) values they present in their Table 1. We believe that the fuzzy manner in which Ding et al. (2006) present the linear free-energy equations and pK_(MHA) values that we derived is, at best, misleading, or at worst, reflects a willful intention to deceive. Readers unfamiliar with our previously published work could easily interpret the "Model application" section of Ding et al. (2006) as an original contribution on their part, when it is clearly the work of Tang and Johannesson (2003).