In her complaint, Bodkin questioned the methodology and conclusions of Arbini's research.

"In November 1995, Dr. Bodkin reviewed her co-worker's research manuscript and discovered the presentation of the data in the manuscript was inaccurate and misleading," the complaint reads. "Dr. Bodkin advocated certain changes to the manuscript to make it conform to accepted principles of scientific research, but Dr. Bodkin's co-worker refused to make the changes."

In an interview Friday, Bodkin claimed that Arbini failed to follow correct scientific procedure, drawing his conclusions from experiments performed for different lengths of time.

Arbini, however, said all of his experiments ran for the same lab time. "It was just a big misunderstanding," he said.

An HMS panel convened after Bodkin filed a formal complaint with HMS and found Arbini innocent of scientific misconduct. But the panel did urge the lab to "keep better track of data," said HMS Director of Public Affairs Donald L. Gibbons.

Arbini said he admits his mistake, but said the incomplete recording had no effect on the conclusions of the research.

"[For] the exact experiment that I decided to use, I did not enter the date or all of the exact conditions in my notebook," he said. "The only reason for that was inexperience."

For his part, Bauer acknowledged that the experiment was "not well recorded" but said these would not affect the science of the paper.