PeerJ retracts study that secretly observed tourists’ reactions to snakes
The journal PeerJ has retracted a study that attempted to capture tourists’ “authentic responses” to venomous snakes by putting plastic models and dead vipers around popular hiking destinations and secretly watching how people reacted to the encounters. Study author Angel Valentinov Dyugmedzhiev of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences assessed their reactions from a few meters … Continue reading…
PeerJ, the journal, has pulled back a study that secretly observed tourists' reactions to venomous snakes. The study's author, Angel Valentinov Dyugmedzhiev from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, placed plastic snakes and dead vipers along popular hiking trails and observed people's responses from a distance. Despite the paper claiming approval from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Ethics Committee, PeerJ retracted it on August 21 after discovering the ethics approval was not in line with their requirements.
The reasons for the ethical concerns were not specified in the retraction notice. This isn't the only snake study with questionable ethics to be retracted; a similar study involving snakes was withdrawn from Scientific Reports in 2025. As of now, Retraction Watch has documented eight retractions from PeerJ since 2016.
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