The U.S. journal Science hints that it may officially retract its publication of Hwang Woo-suk's 2005 thesis following the completion of an ongoing probe by Seoul National University (SNU.)

The journal said even though it had failed to collect signatures from all 25 co-authors of the thesis as of a deadline in December, the retraction process had essentially begun upon the request of University of Pittsburgh professor Gerald Schatten that his name be withdrawn from the paper.

It added that, given the results of the SNU panel’s investigation, it felt obliged to clarify its position on the thesis' retraction.