Academic publisher SAGE is planning to retract several publications by former psychology associate professor Yannick Griep. This reportedly emerges from an internal email obtained by the science integrity news website Retraction Watch.

The publications in question appeared in SAGE’s journal Group & Organization Management (GOM), of which Griep was Editor-in-Chief until earlier this year.

After “a thorough investigation”, the publisher found that the “objectivity of the peer-review process administered by the former Editor in Chief on a subset of articles where they were co-author was compromised”, a SAGE publisher wrote in an email to members of the GOM editorial board. The articles in question are expected to be retracted, reports science news website Retraction Watch, citing the email.

Griep was an Associate Professor in the Department of Work and Organizational Psychology at Radboud University from 2019 to 2025. At the end of 2024, he was summarily dismissed for expense claim fraud. He challenged his dismissal, but ultimately left the university under a settlement agreement.

Earlier this year, Radboud University’s Committee for Scientific Integrity (CWI) upheld a complaint against Griep. It found that he had manipulated data in a scientific publication from 2025, which was subsequently retracted. The CWI is currently investigating other publications by Griep, although it is not yet known when that investigation will be completed.

Peer review

It is not clear which specific articles have raised concerns at SAGE, nor in what way the peer review may have been compromised. When an Editor-in-Chief submits a manuscript to their own journal, another editor usually becomes responsible for its evaluation. That happens without further involvement of the Editor-in-Chief, to safeguard the independence of the peer review process.

Griep has published 25 papers in Group & Organization Management, including multiple editorials written in his capacity as Editor-in-Chief. Editorials typically do not undergo peer review. A SAGE spokesperson confirms to Vox that the publisher “is looking into the journal”, but they cannot share any details at the moment. The scientific content of the publications has not been assessed, according to the email by SAGE that Retraction Watch obtained.