Retractions in scientific publishing: Why they happen and why they matter

Retractions – the process of marking a published scientific article as unreadable – are one of the most challenging aspects of scholarly publishing. In recent years the number of retractions has increased, partly due to a rise in research misconduct but also due to advances in technology that make unethical practices easier to detect.

While no-one in the scientific community welcomes retractions, they play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the scientific record. Removing seriously flawed or fraudulent research is essential for preserving trust in science.

Why are scientific articles retracted?

Retractions are an important part of the scholarly publishing process. They demonstrate a commitment to upholding the scientific record as a permanent and accurate record of the body of scholarly work. Retractions usually happen for one of two reasons.

1. Author-Initiated Retraction: Sometimes, researchers discover a significant error in their own published work and request a retraction to correct the record.

2. Editorial Retraction: More often, a journal’s editorial board retracts an article due to violations of publishing policies. These can include honest mistakes—such as errors in data analysis or methodology—or intentional misconduct, such as data fabrication, plagiarism, false authorship claims, citation manipulation, or submitting the same work to multiple journals. Organized networks, known as “paper mills,” have also contributed to the rise in unethical practices.

Retractions for misconduct can have serious consequences for researchers, including damage to reputation, loss of employment, and withdrawal of funding.

Correcting the record

Generally, articles that have been published remain exact and unaltered to maintain the permanence of the scientific record. However, on occasion, an article may need to be corrected in some form. In addition to retractions, there are other forms of corrections to the record including:

• Corrigendum: Issued when authors identify an error in their article that does not affect the overall findings. All authors must agree to the correction.

• Erratum: Issued when there is an error in a published article that was introduced by the publisher. The Errata will be linked to the article that it corrects.

• Expressions of concern: Issued if journal editors (in consultation with Elsevier’s Research Integrity & Publishing Ethics Center of Expertise):

  • “receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct, which has not been resolved by an investigation and which warrants notification to readers;

  • believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive; or

  • an investigation is underway, but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time.”

• Article withdrawal: Articles-in-Press (an article that has been accepted for publication but not yet published) may be withdrawn prior to publication if they:

  • “represent an early version of an article that was published prematurely due to an editorial or production error; or

  • are discovered to be a duplicate of another published article due to an editorial or production error.”

• Article removal (legal limitations): In very rare cases, an article removal will occur if it’s determined that the article or article-in-press is:

  • “defamatory, or infringes others’ legal rights, and retraction is not a sufficient remedy;

  • or Elsevier has good reason to expect it will be, the subject of a court order; or

  • if acted upon, might pose a serious health risk.”

• Article replacement: In cases where the article or Article-in-Press, if acted upon, might pose a serious health risk, the authors of the original article may wish to retract the original and replace it with a corrected version. In these circumstances, the procedures for retraction will be followed with the difference that the database retraction notice will publish a link to the corrected re-published article or Article-in-Press and a history of the document.

How retraction decisions are made

A retraction is a last resort, considered only after other corrective actions have been evaluated. For self-retractions, authors notify co-authors and contact the journal editor with an explanation.

Before deciding on a retraction, journal editors or members of the journal’s Ethics Committee consult with Elsevier’s Research Integrity & Publishing Ethics Center of Expertise.

Elsevier’s policy is that articles may be retracted to correct errors that impact the findings reported by an article where they are too extensive, in the view of the editors, to publish a correction.

A retraction may also follow if the article has crossed one or more of the following red lines:

• The findings are unreliable either because of a major error (such as miscalculation or experimental mistake) or because of fabrication or falsification of elements such as data or images;

• Evidence of plagiarism;

• Findings have been previously published elsewhere without attribution by the authors, without disclosure to the editor, without permission to republish, or without justification;

• The article contains content that the authors did not hold the rights to publish;

• The article infringes copyright, or other legal issues such as libel or breach of privacy;

• The article is based on unethical research or breaches Elsevier’s ethics policies regarding human or animal participants;

• The article shows evidence of manipulation of the peer review or editorial process;

• Evidence that authorships were sold;

• Evidence of citation manipulation;

• Failure of the authors to disclose a serious conflict of interest;

• Evidence of any other breach of the journal’s policies that causes the editor to lose confidence in the article’s validity or integrity.

The role of retractions in protecting research integrity

Making the decision to retract a paper is a complex one and needs to be taken seriously.

Deciding to retract a paper is never easy, but it is a necessary step to protect the credibility of scientific research. In cases of honest error, a retraction can reflect positively on a researcher’s integrity, demonstrating a willingness to correct mistakes and prioritize the accuracy of the scientific record.

This demonstrated commitment to the veracity and usefulness of the work over and above the damage to pride and any other considerations is a sign of integrity that will win recognition from others in the community. Everyone, after all, can make a mistake.

Retracting a work that other researchers may otherwise have cited also shows deep consideration towards the author’s peers in the research community. By retracting the paper, the author avoids any further spreading of the error into the work of others.

In cases where there is ethical misconduct that, after thorough investigation, leads to the retraction of a paper, the scientific record is ultimately improved. The retraction of erroneous, misleading or unethical papers from the scientific body of published work acts as a powerful bulwark that protects research integrity. Commitment to building and protecting trust in science is an outcome that benefits every researcher, the entire scientific community and the whole of society.