Notice of Research Paper Retraction and Apology

We regret to inform you of the retraction of papers by a former researcher at the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center's Paralympic Research Group published in the journal of Vol.11. Falsified information in a paper submitted to the journal of Vol.11 by the researcher has come to light, and papers by the same researcher that have already been published in the journal were closely reexamined. The decision to retract the papers was made on the grounds of the following misconduct.

Journal: Journal of the Paralympic Research Group
Author: Shohei Kobayashi

1. Vol.7（published in April 2017, pp. 41-51）
Title: An Analysis of Japanese Newspaper Reporting on the Rio Paralympic Games: Focusing on Photographs and the Sections in which they were Published Grounds for retraction: The paper was found to have falsified data.

2. Vol.10（published in September 2018, pp. 85-114）
Title: A Trend and Educational Effect of Paralympic Education in Japan - A Case Study of IPC -Accredited Teaching Tool "I'mPOSSIBLE" -
Grounds for retraction: It was discovered that a survey published in the paper hadnot been conducted, and therefore that the data of the survey was fabricated. Please note that the co-author of the paper Kei Hiraga only wrote Appendix 1 (pp.105-109) of the paper, and had no involvement in the fabricated survey.

Further to the confirmation of the above misconduct, the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center has terminated their service agreement with the researcher. We apologize sincerely for any inconvenience caused by the misconduct and our decision to retract the papers.Taking the misconduct seriously, we are determined to take every measure to further strengthen the internal monitoring system and prevent reoccurrences of similar acts through high ethical standards. We appreciate your continued support and thank you for your kind understanding on this matter.

The Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center
President
Kazuo Ogoura