Comments on the paper “Sorption of radionickel to goethite: effect of water quality parameters and temperature” by Hu et al.

Abstract

Recently, Hu et al. [1]. published a paper with the abovetitle. In section ‘‘Effect of contact time’’, the authors stated,‘‘In order to study the sorption rate constant of Ni(II) togoethite, the pseudo-second-order rate equation was usedto fit the kinetic sorption of Ni(II) to goethite:’’ and referredto two self-citations published in 2008 and 2010 respec-tively [2, 3]. In fact, this kinetic model has already beenpublished first in 1996 [4], and a modified model waspresented in the following years to correct a mistake in the1996 paper [5–7]. However the mistake in the model wasduplicated by other researchers [8, 9]. In order to stop theproliferation of the mistake a comment has been made [10].This type of error could be avoided if authors have had paidmore attentions to details about the model from the originalpaper [11].Accuracy in citing references is very important for thetransmission of scientific knowledge. Citation errors reflectpoorly on authors who republish original ideas that werealready published. Hopefully, the identification of this typeof problems will lead to improved accuracy in referencing[12]. Authors should make serious efforts to check theaccuracy of references cited in their manuscripts as well asto read the original article before quoting it rather thanciting from abstracts or cross-references [13]. It isrecommended that more attention should be paid in pre-paring bibliographies and in checking quoted references[14].References