Why Has the Number of Scientific Retractions Increased?

R Grant Steen, Arturo Casadevall and Ferric C Fang

PLOS ONE, 2013, vol. 8, issue 7, 1-9

Abstract: Background: The number of retracted scientific publications has risen sharply, but it is unclear whether this reflects an increase in publication of flawed articles or an increase in the rate at which flawed articles are withdrawn. Methods and Findings: We examined the interval between publication and retraction for 2,047 retracted articles indexed in PubMed. Time-to-retraction (from publication of article to publication of retraction) averaged 32.91 months. Among 714 retracted articles published in or before 2002, retraction required 49.82 months; among 1,333 retracted articles published after 2002, retraction required 23.82 months (p

Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (36)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0068397

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068397

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