A pilot study that tested a ketogenic diet as a treatment for binge-eating disorder has been retracted by the journal Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity. The Editor-in-Chief retracted the article for legal and research integrity reasons, and the article in its published form has been removed for legal reasons. The retraction note, published on 3 November 2026 as article number 93 in Volume 31 of the journal, states that none of the authors has responded to correspondence from the publisher regarding the retraction.
The problems surfaced after publication, when the publisher was contacted by Dr. Verena Haas and Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, who claimed there was incorrect information in the article. According to the retraction note, the publisher contacted the authors about the raised concerns, but they were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation or documentation, including an appropriate ethics approval document.
An investigation then established that Dr. Verena Haas was not an author of the article at all. The retraction note states that false authorship information was added without her involvement or permission. In addition, the article contained incorrect information about her institutional affiliation and incorrectly stated that Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin had been involved in the study reported in the article.
Because of these findings, the authorship information of the article has been updated, and the published version has been removed. The original article, titled “A ketogenic diet for the management of binge-eating disorder: a pilot study,” had described a pilot study of a ketogenic diet for managing binge-eating disorder. The retraction means the article should no longer be cited as reliable evidence for that approach, since the journal’s Editor-in-Chief determined it could not stand for legal and research integrity reasons.
The retraction note lists the remaining authors of the retracted paper as Yixuan Liang, Angela Taylor and Chuyu Qiu. It also confirms that the original article remains available in linked form, with the retraction note citing the original publication in the same journal, Volume 31, article 42, under DOI 10.1007/s40519-026-01843-7. The retraction itself carries DOI 10.1007/s40519-026-01916-7 and is published open access.
Retractions of this kind typically follow a publisher investigation in which concerns raised by third parties cannot be resolved by the authors. In this case, the concerns included both authorship integrity and the absence of documentation such as an appropriate ethics approval document. The authors’ failure to respond to the publisher’s correspondence about the retraction is recorded in the official notice.
The case highlights how authorship disputes and institutional affiliation errors can lead to the removal of published research, even when the underlying study design is described as a small pilot. Journals rely on accurate authorship records and verified institutional involvement, and when those cannot be substantiated, the published record is corrected through retraction.
Readers who encounter the original article should note that it has been formally retracted and removed from its published form, and that the journal’s official retraction notice is the authoritative record of the reasons for the action.
Subject of Research: Retraction of a pilot study on ketogenic diet management of binge-eating disorder due to false authorship and research integrity concerns
Article Title: Retraction Note: A ketogenic diet for the management of binge-eating disorder: a pilot study
Article References: Liang, Y., Taylor, A., & Qiu, C. (2026). Retraction Note: A ketogenic diet for the management of binge-eating disorder: a pilot study. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 31(1), Article 93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-026-01916-7
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s40519-026-01916-7
Keywords: retraction, binge-eating disorder, ketogenic diet, pilot study, research integrity, authorship, Eating and Weight Disorders, ethics approval, publisher investigation, open access, Note, ketogenic
News Source: Daisy Hatcher. (November 4, 2026). Journal retracts ketogenic diet pilot study for binge-eating disorder over false authorship claims. Scienmag.
