The associate professor who was a key advisor to the AFL on concussion has had nine more articles retracted by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and a further 38 deemed to be of concern.
Paul McCrory resigned as chair of the Concussion in Sport Group in March, as allegations of plagiarism, discovered by Retraction Watch, emerged from one of his articles in the BJSM in 2005.
McCrory had been one of the sporting world’s leading concussion consultants, and had been the lead author on four of the last five Consensus Statements on Concussion in Sport, from which the AFL designed its concussion guidelines and recovery protocols.
The British Journal of Sports Medicine has retracted nine more articles by professor Paul McCrory.
He has downplayed the link between sports concussions and neurodegenerative disease, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), as reported in an article in InSight in April, co-authored by neurophysiologist and concussion researcher Associate Professor Alan Pearce.
The original allegations prompted the AFL in April to launch its own independent review headed by senior lawyer Bernard Quinn KC.
“The AFL expects to receive the McCrory independent review report and publicly release it in the next couple of weeks,” an AFL spokesman said on Tuesday.
The AFL is investigating whether McCrory’s work for the league might have been in breach of the undertaking he had given to the Medical Board of Australia in May 2018, in that he would not perform neurodiagnostic procedures and/or nerve conduction studies and/or electromyography on players after that date. He can still work as a neurologist and help patients, but he cannot conduct the banned procedures.
Of the new nine articles confirmed on Tuesday, BJSM has retracted five for alleged plagiarism, three for duplicate publication, and one for allegedly distorting a source he had used. The expressions of concern have been placed on 38 other single-author articles. McCrory was the BJSM’s editor-in-chief from 2001-08.
“Since our investigation has revealed a pattern of publication misconduct on the part of McCrory, we have decided to place a notice to readers, an expression of concern, on all articles published in the BJSM of which McCrory is identified as the single author,” a BJSM statement read.
“If and in so far as there are new allegations against McCrory arising out of his publications in the BJSM or other BMJ journals, we will investigate them and take further action as appropriate. We have offered McCrory the opportunity to inform us of any other of his articles that may fall short of acceptable publishing standards, although he is yet to provide any additional information.”
After the initial allegations, McCrory admitted to Retraction Watch he had erred in not attributing third-party work but insisted it was “not deliberate or intentional”. He has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for comment from The Age.
How The Age reported Paul McCrory’s Melbourne University address on April 8, 2016.Credit:Fairfax Media
McCrory’s work with the AFL’s concussion committee ended in January 2021. He is also a former Collingwood club doctor.
In an address at Melbourne University in 2016, McCrory argued the dangers of concussion in American football and the links to CTE, coming amid a landmark US$765million settlement with players over the issue, were in part “all the carry-on and hoo-ha you get from the United States”.
However, American neuroscientist and chief executive of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, Dr Chris Nowinski, has also previously criticised McCrory, turning to social media to declare McCrory “is or has been the lead #CTE denier for the IOC, FIFA, IIHF and the Australian Football League”.
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