Science Editor’s Note

On 27 March 2020, Science published the Research Article “Flux-induced topological superconductivity in full-shell nanowires” by S. Vaitiekėnas et al. (1). After readers expressed concerns about whether the authors selected data for publication that were not representative of the entirety of the data collected in association with the project (2), Science published an Editorial Expression of Concern (3) and contacted the authors’ institution (University of Copenhagen), which convened an external expert panel to conduct an investigation. In February 2024, the panel released a detailed report, to which Science directed readers in an Editor’s Note (4). The report concluded in part that “[t]he presented data do, for the most part, represent the outcome of the experiments: the authors have exercised scientific judgement in selecting which data to share using criteria whose application was partially subjective. Although data selection did, in our view, result in conclusions that did not adequately capture the variability of outcomes, the excluded data did not undermine the paper’s main conclusions” (5). The matter was then referred to the Danish Board on Research Misconduct, which formally concluded in October 2024 that the authors did not commit misconduct. In December 2024, the Practice Committee of the University of Copenhagen concluded that the authors did not engage in questionable research practices.