Haruko Obokata, the embattled researcher who coauthored two controversial papers on pluripotent stem cells, says she mistakenly submitted incorrect images with the articles due to pressure to publish them as quickly as possible.

"I was anxious to complete the papers due to the concern that someone could overtake me and make a new discovery unless I published the papers quickly," said her lawyer, Hideo Miki, reading from Obokata's written explanation to an investigation panel that concluded the papers had been falsified.

The statement, dated Sunday, was submitted to back up Obokata's complaint against the panel's findings and her request that it reinvestigate the papers. The 30-year-old Riken researcher and her coauthors attracted global attention in January after publishing two papers on stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells capable of growing into any mouse body tissue.