Sage-Tips

Why has the number of scientific retractions increased?

The increase in retracted articles appears to reflect changes in the behavior of both authors and institutions. Lower barriers to publication of flawed articles are seen in the increase in number and proportion of retractions by authors with a single retraction.

Why are scientific articles retracted?

Articles may be retracted when their findings are no longer considered trustworthy due to scientific misconduct or error, they plagiarize previously published work, or they are found to violate ethical guidelines.

How many scientific papers should be retracted?

The gap between retractable and retracted papers is much wider for the lower-impact journals (Fig 1C). For example, for Nature (1999–2004 average IF = 29.5), with τ = 1 (optimistic), we estimate that 45–67 articles should have been retracted, whereas only 30 actually were retracted.

What was the main reason of the retraction?

The causes of retraction were classified as: data management, authorship issues, plagiarism, unethical research, journal issues, review process, conflict of interest, other causes, and unknown reasons. Then, misbehaviour was classified as misconduct, suspicion of misconduct or no misconduct suspicion.

What happens when a paper is retracted?

The retraction of a paper involves a formal withdrawal of an already published article. This is a serious action and the last resort for dealing with misconduct. The journal publisher does not subject the author to further disciplinary actions in all such cases.

Should retracted articles be pulled from the literature entirely?

Try to not to use retracted materials. Retracted articles should never be cited. If a paper has been retracted by authors themselves, there has to be some problem with the experiment, accuracy of the results or some other errors which came to the notice of the authors after publishing.

What are the effects of retraction?

According to a study conducted by MIT and published in 2017, authors can experience a 10–20\% decrease in citations after a formal retraction. Article retractions irreversibly damage the authors’ reputation. The scientific community begins doubting the integrity of the concerned research group.

When should a paper be retracted discuss a case of paper retraction due to any research unethical issue?

Articles that turn out to be based on fraudulent or flawed research are, of course, retracted by the journals that published them. The fact that there is a clearly stated policy for retracting fraudulent research is extremely important.

What happens if paper gets retracted?

How Retraction Affects Authors. The retraction of a paper involves a formal withdrawal of an already published article. This is a serious action and the last resort for dealing with misconduct. Before doing this, the journal adopts other measures to resolve the identified issues.

Is it bad to retract a paper?

Retractions in Academic Journals One or more retractions can be deadly for a researcher’s career, and are generally not good for all involved, including the journal, the editors, the peer-review system, and the research institutions.

How do you retract a scientific paper?

Procedure. A retraction may be initiated by the editors of a journal, or by the author(s) of the papers (or their institution). Retractions are typically accompanied by a retraction notice written by the editors or authors explaining the reason for the retraction.

Why do some retracted papers continue to be cited?

Even in the case of silent retractions, where the entire paper is struck or removed from the academic record (Teixeira da Silva 2016a), a risk of being cited continues to exist since authors may deposit copies on self-archives such as individual web-pages or blogs, or on sites such as Mendeley, Academia.edu or …

Is the number of retracted scientific articles increasing?

The number of retracted scientific publications has risen sharply, but it is unclear whether this reflects an increase in publication of flawed articles or an increase in the rate at which flawed articles are withdrawn. We examined the interval between publication and retraction for 2,047 retracted articles indexed in PubMed.

How long does it take to retract a journal article?

Among 714 retracted articles published in or before 2002, retraction required 49.82 months; among 1,333 retracted articles published after 2002, retraction required 23.82 months (p<0.0001). This suggests that journals are retracting papers more quickly than in the past, although recent articles requiring retraction may not have been recognized yet.

Are authors with multiple retractions more likely to write retracted papers?

The proportional impact of authors with multiple retractions was greater in 1972–1992 than in the current era (p<0.001). From 1972–1992, 46.0\% of retracted papers were written by authors with a single retraction; from 1993 to 2012, 63.1\% of retracted papers were written by single-retraction authors (p<0.001).

Are there lower barriers to retraction of flawed articles?

Lower barriers to publication of flawed articles are seen in the increase in number and proportion of retractions by authors with a single retraction. Lower barriers to retraction are apparent in an increase in retraction for “new” offenses such as plagiarism and a decrease in the time-to-retraction of flawed work.