"I have never submitted a paper without firmly believing that the data were correct and accurately presented." which is another way of saying... "it's not a li

"I have never submitted a paper without firmly believing that the data were correct and accurately presented." which is another way of saying... "it's not a lie if you believe it" To give them the benefit of the doubt though, if they realized the data was wrong they should have requested a retraction. That they didn't after being requested to do so speaks a lot, to me at least.