Article retraction in academic publishing means removal of a published article from the journal (both from online and print channels). This is a last resort for journals, who retract disputed papers both for deliberate fraud and honest errors by the researchers. Although still a relatively uncommon occurrence, article retractions in academic publishing have increased in the last decade by up to 10 folds1.
It is unclear whether this is because malpractice has increased or because journals have become more watchful; the majority, however, favors the latter. Researchers, their institutions, and publishers all bear the brunt of retracted study, which also harms the reputation of the journals in the scientific community. If the misconduct is serious and involves an ethical breach involving human or animal subjects, the alleged research author(s) may lose their jobs, peer recognition and citations, funding opportunities, and scientific credibility2.
What leads to retractions in academic publishing?
To understand the reasons for disputed retractions in academic publishing, let’s first understand the three primary causes that lead to retraction which are; honest errors, deliberate or unintentional fraud (scientific misconduct), and others3. The first two categories will be covered in more detail in this article, and the third category is only used when the journal has not provided a clear justification for the retraction.
Retraction in academic publishing and research fraud are not synonymous; in fact, according to data from the Retraction Watch blog (founded by Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus), the majority of retractions are the result of problems with reproducibility, honest mistakes, and other issues with the articles4. Scientific misconduct falls into three main categories aka three cardinal sins:
- Falsification is the manipulation of data to support hypotheses. This includes, but is not limited to, altering images and how information is presented to change the conclusion of the study.
- Fabrication refers to the altering and construction of data, samples, or findings during the course of the study that are inconsistent with the actual findings or data. This can also involve displaying an incomplete data set in order to infer the results.
- Plagiarism is defined as using someone else’s work as your own while failing to properly credit the sources.
One of the most common reasons for retraction in academic publishing is plagiarism, which authors should check for using plagiarism detection software. They should also always cite the original source and obtain permission before reusing previously published materials. Other such honest mistakes include incorrect sampling and data labelling, skewed statistical analysis, authorship issues, irreproducibility of data, publication of redundant findings, and inaccuracies in the data.
To reduce the chance of a retraction in academic publishing, authors are advised to double-check these details before submitting the manuscript. The simultaneous submission of a manuscript to multiple journals, failure to disclose conflicts of interest, transgression of ethical standards, fabrication, falsification, and self-/plagiarism are more serious instances of scientific misconduct.
Retraction in academic publishing: What’s the cost of retraction for researchers and research?
If it comes to your paper’s retraction, consequences of it on your image can be dire. Disputed papers’ retraction in academic publishing permanently harms the reputation of the authors involved, whether it was intentional or unintentional misconduct. It is a common misconception that retractions in academic publishing indicate author misconduct, but this is not always the case. Due to this stigma, editors frequently face moral conundrums when deciding how to handle a contentious article.
Retraction is a practice used to preserve the integrity of scientific literature rather than to scrutinize authors and exclude them from the community. The question of whether you can cite retracted articles now arises. What happens to research based on articles that are retracted? The authors of Retraction Watch claim that it is acceptable for other researchers to cite retracted articles if they are crucial to their research and the cited paper influenced it. The retracted article and the retraction note, which purportedly have separate DOIs and clearly identify the article as retracted, are nonetheless advised to be cited by the authors4.
How to report scientific misconduct
Prior to submitting your work to any journals, your first priority should be to carefully proofread your manuscripts and give your research a careful review for validity and credibility. Before beginning a study, all necessary regulatory and ethical approvals must be obtained. Cross-check the methodology and data analysis after completion, and clearly define author contributions and disclose any conflicts of interest information to reduce any potential risks of retraction. Despite this, if after publication you discover errors in your article, raise the issue by sending a letter right away to the journal’s editorial board or editor-in-chief5. It is crucial to let co-authors know about the circumstance and make the error crystal clear in your letter to the editor. It is the responsibility of authors, editors, publishers, and reviewers to uphold scientific integrity; as a result, it is equally crucial to report any problems you suspect may exist in the work of other authors. On a platform like Pubpeer, you can express your concern about a questionable article by leaving comments.
If you discover unethical behavior or any other problems with an article, another way to handle this is to get in touch with the editor of the journal where the suspected paper was published. The editors then write to the institutions of the alleged author(s) to begin an independent investigation (internal). If the misconduct is established, the article is retracted and a retraction notice is published stating the reason (although the notice is not always explicit). Additionally, the listed authors can also be barred from publishing in that journal for a fixed amount of time. Though errors do occur in academic publishing and not all of them are fraudulent in nature, the objective should be to correct honest mistakes and stop willful misconduct.
References
- Brainard, J. & You, J. What a Massive Database of Retracted Papers Reveals about Science Publishing’s ‘death Penalty’. Science, October 25, 2018 https://www.science.org/content/article/what-massive-database-retracted-papers-reveals-about-science-publishing-s-death-penalty
- Vuong, H Q. Retractions: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. What Researchers Stand to Gain from Taking More Care to Understand Errors in the Scientific Record. Impact of Social Sciences, February 20, 2020 https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2020/02/20/retractions-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-what-researchers-stand-to-gain-from-taking-more-care-to-understand-errors-in-the-scientific-record/
- Cerejo, C. What Are the Most Common Reasons for Retraction? Editage Insights, October 16, 2013 https://www.editage.com/insights/what-are-the-most-common-reasons-for-retraction.
- Oransky, I. Ask Retraction Watch: Is It OK to Cite a Retracted Paper? Retraction Watch (blog), January 5, 2018 https://retractionwatch.com/2018/01/05/ask-retraction-watch-ok-cite-retracted-paper/.
- Bik, E. How to Report Misconduct to a Journal. Science Integrity Digest, July 19, 2019 https://scienceintegritydigest.com/2019/07/16/how-to-report-misconduct-to-a-journal/
