A South Korean university rocked by scandal in recent years announced on Thursday that school researchers did not manipulate data in a paper that details the world's first successful cloning of gray wolves.
The three-week probe by a Seoul National University panel involved sifting through lab records and computer files.
Investigators determined the research team, led by veterinary professor Byeong-Chun Lee, did not intentionally underestimate previous research to inflate the team's success rate in wolf cloning.
Instead, investigators found that sloppy record keeping and handling of samples were to blame for the published errors.
"During the time research on cloning wolves was undertaken, no laboratory notes were compiled," the six-member panel said in a written statement. "Hence, there was an imperfect record of the details."
In all, three "unintentional errors" were found in the paper, including mislabeled and missing information, the panel wrote.
Independent DNA tests also verified that the female wolves, which are on exhibit at a Seoul zoo, are real clones.
In March, Lee announced his team had duplicated the endangered canine species. But just days later, officials began looking into the claim after young scientists raised questions about the study on an online bioengineering message board.
Upon learning of the mistakes, Lee's team asked the U.S. journal that published the study, Cloning and Stem Cells, for corrections to the text.
The journal later pulled the paper off its Web site pending the investigation's outcome.
But even from the beginning, the wolf-cloning study had come under scrutiny, because disgraced scientist Woo Suk Hwang is listed as an author.
Hwang was found last year to have fabricated key stem cell research, including claims to have cloned a human embryo for the first time.
In 2005 Lee collaborated with Hwang in the creation of Snuppy, the first cloned domestic canine (see Snuppy pictures).
Hwang's dog-cloning feat was questioned, though, after allegations of misconduct surfaced regarding his other research.
An independent DNA test later verified that the black-and-tan Afghan hound was a genetic duplicate.
Hwang is now on trial for fraud, embezzlement, and violation of South Korea's bioethics laws.
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