A physics journal has informed an embattled rocket scientist that it will retract three of his papers, citing concerns raised by the retraction of another of his papers last year.

All three articles appear in Physics of Fluids, published by AIP Publishing, and describe a phenomenon called “Sanal flow choking.” As we reported last year, some scientists have denounced the concept as “absolute nonsense.” The researcher who coined the phrase is the lead author on all papers, V.R. Sanal Kumar, a professor of aerospace engineering at Amity University in New Delhi.

The papers are:

“The theoretical prediction of the boundary-layer-blockage and external flow choking at moving aircraft in ground effects,” published in March 2021 and cited 24 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science.

“Universal benchmark data of the three-dimensional boundary layer blockage and average friction coefficient for in silico code verification,” published in April 2022 and cited 12 times.

“In vitro prediction of the lower/upper-critical biofluid flow choking index and in vivo demonstration of flow choking in the stenosis artery of the animal with air embolism,” published in October 2022 and cited 11 times.

AIP Advances, which is owned by the same publisher, retracted a paper by Kumar last year...