Scholarly Communication Services

SCS Shorts: What is a Retraction?

A retraction is defined as an act of revoking or rescinding an action.  In scholarly publishing, it is when a work is withdrawn after its publication.  This is done through the decision of a publisher or a publication’s editorial board.  Sometimes an author may request a retraction due to errors, and the editorial board may agree to grant one.

Retractions frequently occur for the following reasons:

• Research misconduct.  Fabrication, falsification, and plagiarism are 3 types of research misconduct as defined by the National Science Foundation. 
• Unethical behavior.  These may include forged authorship, fake peer reviews, or copyright infringement.  Other types of unethical behavior may include competing or conflicting interests that affect an objective, unbiased interpretation of research, and also failure to receive institutional review board approval for research.

Retractions don’t always indicate possible research misconduct or unethical actions.  Publications can be retracted for additional reasons:

• Errors in research
• Problems with reproducibility
• Duplicate publishing
• Publication errors

How can I identify a retraction?

• Brief bibliographic record.  In a brief database record, a retracted article may have ‘Retracted’ before its title.
• Article.  An article may be labeled ‘Retracted’ at the beginning of its title, or its PDF may have a watermark of that term.
• Notice of Retraction.  An editorial board may attach their notice and rationale for their decision at the end of a retracted work; see this example from The Lancet.  The retracted article may also have a “Notice of Retraction” link that leads to a separately published notice.
• CrossRef.  If a publication provides CrossRef information, a link to a CrossRef record for a work will show updates to it that include retractions.

Retracted articles can be useful for review or instructional purposes.  Various aspects of a work such is its design, methodology, conclusion or use of information can be examined and critiqued, which may be a good learning tool.  Examination of these publications may also be used to promote academic or publishing ethics.  The use of facts, conclusions, or other aspects of the publication that were the reason for the retraction are highly discouraged for supporting new work. 

Students or others who are not familiar with scholarly publications may unwittingly use or cite retracted works.  Librarians and library staff should be able to advise students on these publications, and to encourage them to critically appraise their sources.

More Information: 

• Scholarly Publishing – Retractions (SCS Research Guide):  https://libguides.fau.edu/c.php?g=1022236&p=8667565