Dan Vergano of USAToday reports that the journal Computational Statistics and Data Analysis has retracted a study authored by Edward Wegman, professor of statistics at George Mason University and premiere GOP climate-denial witness. The study in question was an extension of the infamous Wegman Report, which was commissioned by Texas Rep. "Smokey" Joe Barton for the useful purpose of smearing climate science and climate scientists. After blogger Deep Climate first detailed serious problems with the scholarship in the Wegman Report, USAToday asked three plagiarism experts to review the report and found that it relied heavily on plagiarised material lifted from textbooks and Wikipedia.

The plagiarism in the Wegman Report is more than just evidence of shoddy, unethical scholarship. It indicates that the authors did not have expertise on the subject; they were unable to produce background material themselves and had to steal it from people who did know what they were talking about. Of course, expertise was not what Joe Barton was looking for - he was more interested in a willingness to produce a report that reinforced his "climate science is corrupt" narrative. Further, the report claimed that climate scientists collaborating with each other was a sign of inadequate peer-review in the field. Ironically, Wegman's now-retracted paper was accepted for publication a mere 6 days after being submitted, an unheard-of speed that most certainly did not allow enough time for peer-review.

George Mason University has been dragging its feet, refusing to deal with Wegman's plagiarism and other ethical issues in a timely manner. They will find it more difficult to continue doing so now that a journal has retracted his paper. And the GOP will have to find another professor willing to risk his career, and his soul, to lie for them.