PLOS ONE retracts 2024 paper on Earth's magnetic field and bird navigation over unresolved statistical and modeling concerns

PLOS ONE issued a retraction on June 22, 2026, for the 2024 paper by Ghosh, Chatterjee, Banerjee and Das, Do Magnetic murmurs guide birds? A directional statistical investigation for influence of Earth's Magnetic field on bird navigation, after a statistical advisor raised concerns about the validity of the assumptions, model and reporting. The Editors found that the paper treated consecutive bird turning angles as independent without justification, used equations for circular-circular regression that did not respect the required topology, and described von Mises and spherical mixture models in the Materials and Methods that were not actually estimated or used in the data analysis. Reporting in the results tables was deemed incomplete — missing significance levels, von Mises parameter estimates, p-values, sample sizes and clear test descriptions — limiting interpretation and reproducibility. The corresponding author (Ghosh) agreed with the retraction; the three remaining co-authors did not.

"The PLOS One Editors consider that the concerns about model assumptions, specification, and reporting are not resolved. In light of these concerns, which call into question the validity and reliability of the published results, the PLOS One Editors retract this article."

— PLOS ONE Editors

"None of these models appear to have been estimated and used in the data analysis."

— PLOS ONE Editors

"PG agreed with the retraction. DC, AB, and SSD did not agree with the retraction."

— PLOS ONE Editors

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[The PLOS ONE Editors] PLOS ONE Journal Level 1ⓘ

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⚠️ PLOS ONE retracts 2024 paper on Earth's magnetic field and bird navigation over unresolved statistical and modeling concerns

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