Bitter fight over 2020 Microsoft quantum paper both resolved and unresolved

Deep dive The journal Science is preparing to remove an editorial expression of concern that cast doubt on a five-year-old Microsoft quantum computing research paper.

The notice is expected to be replaced by a correction that says researchers didn't present a full description of how they tuned the relevant devices and didn't present a full catalog of the data measured.

The decision simultaneously delights and frustrates Charles Marcus, professor of physics at the University of Washington, a former scientific director of Microsoft Quantum Lab at the University of Copenhagen, and one of the paper's authors.

It follows a determination issued last year by the University of Copenhagen's Committee for Responsible Research Practices that Marcus – affiliated with the university at the time – "has not engaged in questionable research practices in this matter."

"So it feels great," Marcus explained in a phone interview. "It's nice to be exonerated. It's nice to have both Science Magazine and the National Board and the Practice Committee of the University of Copenhagen and my own department back in Copenhagen, all exonerated, and the authors of the paper. But I want those four years back."

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