RETRACTED FOR THE SECOND TIME: phony study on "biofield energy" treatment

It was an unusual decision to republish an already-retracted paper in a different journal, but Wiley has retracted (again) the purported effects of a supernatural “intervention” on biological and emotional health.

Dr. Ioana A Cristea's comments on PubPeer (conveyed to the journal) and my letter to the Editorial Staff (posted on this blog on December 29, 2025) triggered an investigation that ultimately led to the retraction:

RETRACTION: M. K. Trivedi, A. Branton, D. Trivedi, S. Mondal and S. Jana, “Amelioration of Adults' Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms Through Spiritual Energy Therapy: Randomized Controlled Trial,” Neuropsychopharmacology Reports 45, no. 3 (2025): e70050, https://doi.org/10.1002/npr2.70050. 

The above article, published online on 10 September 2025 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Tsuyoshi Miyakawa; The Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology; and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. The retraction has been agreed upon as a similar version of this article by the same authors was previously retracted by the Journal of General and Family Medicine (https://doi.org/10.1002/jgf2.773). Although revisions have been made, the article does not adequately address the previously identified concerns. In particular, issues regarding the appropriateness of the control group and the psychological questionnaire scoring method remain unresolved. Additionally, some biomarker values remain implausible without sufficient justification and claims regarding the efficacy of spiritual energy therapy continue to lack independent supporting evidence. The editors agree the results and conclusions are unreliable. The authors disagree with the retraction.

And once again, “The authors disagree with the retraction.”

What were some of the issues?

The problematic values [of klotho, an “anti-aging” protein] are magnified in Appendix 2, see the Table 3 & 4_Biomarker_Control tab for ’Spiritual Energy Therapy Group (Day 180)’. In the Klotho column, 28 out of 35 participants have values of 20.00 ng/mL. This is the upper limit of the assay, according to ThermoFisher (https://www.thermofisher.com/elisa/product/Human-Klotho-ELISA-Kit/EEL200). Importantly, 20.00 ng/mL is 8.73 to 27 times above the upper 95th percentile.  

...and of course:

• The Trivedi Effect® has not been scientifically proven. Citations #14 and #15 provided no data to support this.

“The Trivedi Effect®” is Mahendra Kumar Trivedi's patented form of “Biofield Energy Treatment”

An extraordinary, unprecedented and evidence-based phenomenon that can transform the cellular structure of living organisms, alter atomic structure of non-living materials and revolutionize an individual’s life.  

These assertions are indeed extraordinary — they are not evidence-based. They have never been scientifically proven. They do not belong in any literature that claims to be scientific.

There's a long list of other papers that should be retracted (a set of six more, for starters), but I still have a regular (paying) job.

 

Further Reading

The Miraculous Guru with an h-index of 62

Backed by Science? Building a lucrative spiritual empire based on potentially “questionable” publications

RETRACTED: phony study on "biofield energy" treatment by a Guru

The Guru Republishes Retracted Paper in Another Exploitable Journal