Retractions in Science

TY - JOUR

T1 - Retractions in Science

AU - Wray, K. Brad

AU - Andersen, Line Edslev

PY - 2018/12/1

Y1 - 2018/12/1

N2 - Retractions are rare in science, but there is growing concern about the impact retracted papers have. We present data on the retractions in the journal Science, between 1983 and 2017. Each year, approximately 2.6 papers are retracted; that is about 0.34% of the papers published in the journal. 30% of the retracted papers are retracted within 1 year of publication. Some papers are retracted almost 12 years after publication. 51% of the retracted papers are retracted due to honest mistakes. Smaller research teams of 2–4 scientists are responsible for a disproportionately larger share of the retracted papers especially when it comes to retractions due to honest mistakes. In 60% of the cases all authors sign the retraction notice.

AB - Retractions are rare in science, but there is growing concern about the impact retracted papers have. We present data on the retractions in the journal Science, between 1983 and 2017. Each year, approximately 2.6 papers are retracted; that is about 0.34% of the papers published in the journal. 30% of the retracted papers are retracted within 1 year of publication. Some papers are retracted almost 12 years after publication. 51% of the retracted papers are retracted due to honest mistakes. Smaller research teams of 2–4 scientists are responsible for a disproportionately larger share of the retracted papers especially when it comes to retractions due to honest mistakes. In 60% of the cases all authors sign the retraction notice.

KW - Science

KW - authorship

KW - collaboration in science

KW - honest error

KW - misconduct

KW - retraction

KW - scientific publication

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054307080&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0138-9130

VL - 117

SP - 2009

EP - 2019

JO - Scientometrics

JF - Scientometrics

IS - 3

M1 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2922-4

ER -