Retraction of publications

Retraction of publications

Papers published in scientific journals may be formally retracted by the journal. The phenomenon is in particular known in medical journals. One reason for retraction might be that an author has been convicted of fraudulently manipulation of his research data (cf., fraud).

The MEDLINE database has a special document type indicator for retraced papers, and the National Library of Medicine has made a bibliography of retracted medical publications. In spite of such steps, bibliometric investigations seem to indicate that retracted papers may continue to be cited as if they had not been retracted (cf., Kochan & Budd, 1992).

Literature:

Atlas, M. C. (2004). Retraction policies of high-impact biomedical journals. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 92(2), 242-250.

Bloch, D. (1989). Freud's retraction of his seduction theory and the Schreber case. Psychoanalytic Review, 76(2), 185-201.

Budd, J. M.; Sievert, M. E. & Schultz, T. R. (1998). Phenomena of retraction - Reasons for retraction and citations to the publications. JAMA-Journal of the American Medical Association, 280(3), 296-297.

Budd, J. M.; Sievert, M., Schultz, T. R. & Scoville, C. (1999). Effects of article retraction on citation and practice in medicine. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 87(4), 437-443.

Kochan, C. & Budd, J. M. (1992). The Persistence of Fraud in the Literature: The Darsee Case. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 43(7), 488-493.

Krabbe, E. C. W. (2001). The problem of retraction in critical discussion. Synthese, 127(1-2), 141-159.

Snodgrass, G. L. & Pfeifer, M. P. (1992). The characteristics of medical retraction notices. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 80(4), 328-334.