Academic retractions explained

When a paper is retracted

COPE's retraction guidelines say retraction applies when the content or data are so flawed that the findings cannot be relied upon. The cause can be honest error, naive mistakes or misconduct ¹.

ICMJE says that if an investigation proves scientific misconduct, the journal should publish a retraction. Errors that invalidate a paper's results and conclusions may require retraction too ^2,3.

Springer Nature's editorial policies say a paper will be retracted if fraud is confirmed, and that plagiarism leads to correction or retraction depending on severity ⁴.

Four kinds of notice

What readers see

ICMJE asks that a retracted article be clearly labelled as retracted in its abstract, full text and PDF, and that the retraction and the original be linked in both directions. The notice should explain the reason and cite the original article in full ².

Elsevier's policy says a retraction notice titled Retraction: followed by the article title is signed by the editor and, where appropriate, the authors. The original PDF is kept unchanged except for a retracted watermark on each page, a screen showing the retraction note comes before the article, and the HTML version is removed ⁵.

Elsevier withdraws only early Articles in Press published in error or duplicated, and removes content only on legal grounds. Its official archive at the National Library of the Netherlands keeps all versions, including retracted and removed articles ⁵.

Retraction and republication

ICMJE allows retraction with republication when an honest error, such as a misclassification or miscalculation, substantially changes the results. The error must be unintentional, the underlying science must appear valid and the revised paper must pass further review ³. Elsevier calls a similar route replacement, used where the original could pose a serious health risk, with the notice linking to the corrected republished article ⁵.

How retraction status travels

NISO's Recommended Practice RP-45-2024, published on 27 June 2024, sets practices for creating, transferring and displaying metadata about retractions, removals and expressions of concern. It says the status must be clear to human readers and machine-readable ⁶.

Crossref's Crossmark button gives readers access to the current status of an item, and members commit to telling Crossref about changes such as a correction or retraction ⁷. Crossref acquired the Retraction Watch database in September 2023 and made it public. It is updated every working day ⁸.