An article on human hand received an outcry from reviewers, including some professional scientists, two months after its publication on PLOS ONE, one of the largest online open access scientific journals. The article was criticized for referring to God multiple times. Some reviewers criticized the article for its crop-out approach. Such an instance puts doubt over reliability of the journal.

The study named ‘Biomechanical Characteristics of Hand Coordination in Grasping Activities of Daily Living’ was published in PLOS ONE on January 5 by Cai-Hua Xiong of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, along with three colleagues. The article cited God as ‘the creator’ many a times, which was questioned by many readers. The author had held God responsible for the unique creation of human hand. The study even called human hand superior to other animals.

Readers have criticized the article in many ways. A reader calls it more of a systematic failure than a simple mistake. They want answers from publishers regarding precautions that will be taken in future to avoid such discrepancies. Such criticism point fingers against further publication of the open access journal.

The online publication operators have not yet explained much, but have decided to retract the article from the website. “Our internal review and the advice we have received have confirmed the concerns about the article and revealed that the peer review process did not adequately evaluate several aspects of the work. In light of the concerns identified, the PLOS ONE editors have decided to retract the article…”, says PLOS ONE. But, the response hasn’t satisfied the readers much.