Table 1.
Overview of search strategies and results.
| Publication | Data sampling strategies | Sample size, retraction rates | Reasons for retraction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Almeida et al., 2015 | Web of Knowledge ? – November 2014 Title: ‘retraction’ or ‘retracted’ Only general and internal medicine |
86 retraction notices | |
| Amos, 2014 | PubMed 2008–2012 Publication type: ‘Retracted Publication’ |
821 retracted articles | Duplication: 18.1% Plagiarism: 16.6% Other: 60.4% Unknown: 4.9% |
| Azoulay et al., 2012 | PubMed 1973–2008 retracted until 2009 |
1104 retracted articles | Fake data: 32.7% Error/mistake: 24.6% Not reproducible: 8.3% Duplicate publication: 8.3% Plagiarism: 8.2% Questionable validity: 3.2% Author dispute: 3.0% Miscellaneous: 2.2% Fake data & plagiarism: 1.4% Publisher error: 1.2% No IRB approval: 0.8% No proper records: 0.3% Unknown: 3.8% |
| Bilbrey et al., 2014 | 15 high and low impact journals 1960–2012 WoS: Topic: retraction PubMed: corrected/retracted article |
171 retractions | Error: 62% Fraud: 16% Unknown: 22% |
| Budd et al., 1998 | PubMed 1966–1997 Publication type: ‘Retraction of Publication’ |
235 retracted articles | Error: 39% Misconduct: 37% Not reproducible: 16% Unknown: 9% |
| Casadevall, Steen and Fang, 2014 | Sample of Fang, Steen and Casadevall, 2012
Additional criteria: Only articles retracted for error |
423 retracted articles | Laboratory error: 55.8% Unique: 54.2% Contamination: 31.3% DNA-related: 12.7% Control: 1.7% Analytical error: 18.9% Irreproducibility: 16.1% Other & unknown: 9.2% |
| Cokol et al., 2007; Cokol et al., 2008 | PubMed 1950–2007 | 871 retracted articles | |
| Davis, 2012 | PubMed 1973–2010 Publication type: ‘Retracted Publication’ |
1779 retracted articles | |
| Decullier et al., 2014 | PubMed 2008 Publication type: ‘Retraction of Publication’ |
237 retraction notices (February 2011) 14 notices added/changed until November 2011 (6%) |
|
| Decullier et al., 2013 | PubMed 2008 Publication type: ‘Retraction of Publication’ |
241 retraction notices | Error: 28% Plagiarism: 20% Fraud: 14% Overlap: 11% Authorship: 5% Inconsistent data: 5% Property or legal concerns: 3% Editor: 3% Ethics: 1% Unknown: 9% |
| Fanelli, 2013 | Web of Science Publication type: ‘Correction’ and ‘Correction, Addition’ AND Title: ‘retraction’ |
2294 retractions | |
| Fanelli, Costas and Larivière, 2015 | Web of Science 2010–2011 Publication type: ‘Correction’ and ‘Correction, Addition’ AND Title: ‘retraction’ |
611 retracted articles | |
| Fang and Casadevall, 2011 | PubMed 2001–2010 Only journals with impact factor of 2.00 or more |
||
| Fang, Steen and Casadevall, 2012 | PubMed 1973–2012 Only publications in English |
2047 retracted articles | Fraud: 34% Error: 21% Plagiarism: 10% Duplication: 14% Suspected fraud: 9% Other: 5% Unknown: 9% |
| Foo, 2011 | PubMed Publication type: ‘Retracted Publication’ |
1239 retracted articles | |
| Furman, Jensen and Murray, 2012 | PubMed 1977–2006 Only included if matched with Web of Science |
677 retracted articles | |
| Gasparyan et al., 2014 | PubMed 2000–2013 | 2414 retracted articles | |
| Grieneisen and Zhang, 2012 | 42 data sources 1928–2011 PubMed: Publication type: ‘Retraction of Publication’, Title: retraction, Title: retracted, Title: withdrawal, Title: withdrawn Web of Science Title: retract* |
6736 (combined retracted articles and retraction notices) 1275 withdrawn articles 7925 hits |
Publishing misconduct: 47% Questionable interpretations: 42% Research misconduct: 20% Publisher error: 9% |
| He, 2013 | Web of Science 2001–2010 Title: ‘retraction AND vol’ Title: ‘retracted AND article’ |
1278 retraction notices 1455 retracted articles |
|
| Jin et al., 2013 | Web of Science 1993–2011 Only singular retraction events (authors with no more than 1 retraction) |
667 retraction events | |
| Karabag and Berggren, 2012 | ScienceDirect ‘retracted paper’ EBSCO Business Source Premier ‘retracted paper’ JSTOR Emerald |
37 retracted papers in Management & Economics journals | |
| Van Leeuwen and Luwel, 2014 | Web of Science ? – Jan. 2014 Suffix ‘retracted article’ added to title |
2479 retracted articles | Fraud: 22.1% Errors: 21.2% Fraud by 1 author: 12.4% Duplicated/concurrent publishing: 11.5% Plagiarism: 8.0% No IRB approval: 5.3% Independent review: 4.4% Incomplete consultation between authors: 2.7% Errors by editors: 1.8% Classification errors in journal or WoS: 4.4% Unknown: 6.2% |
| Lu et al., 2013 | Web of Science 2000–2013 | 1423 retraction notices | |
| Madlock-Brown and Eichmann, 2014 | PubMed 2003–2010 | 1113 retracted articles | Misconduct: 48% Duplication: 17% Plagiarism: 16% Fraud: 15% Process: 62% Error: 31% Not reproducible 13% Approval issues: 7% Editorial mistake: 2% Other: 1% Unknown: 8% |
| Mongeon and Larivière, 2016 | PubMed Publication type ‘Retracted Publication’ Publication type ‘Retraction of Publication’ |
2299 retracted articles 2451 retraction notices |
Categorization using the data of Azoulay et al., 2012 |
| Mongeon and Larivière, 2013 | PubMed 1996–2006 Only included if matched with Web of Science |
474 retracted articles | |
| Nath et al., 2006 | PubMed 1982–2002 | 395 retracted articles | Error: 61.8% Misconduct: 27.1% Unknown: 11.1% |
| Redman et al., 2008 | PubMed 1995–2004 Publication type ‘retraction in’ |
328 retracted articles | Error: 22% Not reproducible: 20% Plagiarism: 17% Misconduct: 17% Other: 11% Unknown: 12% |
| Rosenkrantz, 2016 | PubMed ?–2015 Publication type ‘Retracted Publication’ Publication type ‘Retraction of Publication’ Title ‘Retraction Notice’ |
3685 retracted articles 3859 retraction notices 237 retraction notices |
(only radiology) Incorrect methods: 33% Duplication: 33% Plagiarism 15% Approval issues: 8% Publisher’s mistake: 6% Unknown: 6% |
| Samp et al., 2012 | PubMed 2000–2011 (only drug literature) | 742 retractions, 102 drug literature | Misconduct: 72% Data fabrication: 33% Unethical author conduct: 44% Data falsification: 4% Plagiarism: 15% Questions of data veracity: 4% Error: 29% Duplicate publication: 28% Scientific mistake: 31% Journal error: 7% Unknown: 34% |
| Snodgrass and Pfeifer, 1992 | PubMed 1975–1991 Publication type: ‘Retraction of Publication’ |
97 retraction notices | |
| Steen and Hamer, 2014 | PubMed ?–2011 Publication type ‘Retracted Publication’ AND ‘Randomized clinical trial’ Only publications in English |
70 retracted RCTs | |
| Steen et al., 2013 | PubMed 1973–2012 Only publications in English |
2047 retracted articles | |
| Steen, 2010; Steen, 2011b; Steen, 2011c | PubMed 2000–2010 Publication type: ‘Retracted Publication’ Only items with abstracts Only publications in English |
788 retracted articles | Fraud: 26.6% Fabrication: 15% Falsification: 13.2% Error: 73.5% Scientific mistake: 31.5% Duplication: 15.8% Plagiarism: 14.4% Ethical violations: 10.2% Journal error: 3.6% Unknown: 8.2% |
| Stern et al., 2014 | Sample of Fang, Steen and Casadevall, 2012
Additional criteria: 1992–2012 Only authors from the United States Only retractions for ‘research misconduct’ |
291 retracted articles | |
| Stretton et al., 2012 | PubMed 1966–2008 Publication type: ‘Retracted Publication’ Only human studies, only publications in English |
213 retracted misconduct publications | Misconduct: Plagiarism: 41.8% Falsification & fabrication: 52.1% Authorship disputes: 2.3% Ethical issues: 2.3% Unknown: 1.4% |
| Trikalinos et al., 2008 | Web of Science 1980–2006 Title: retract* OR withdraw* OR fraud* OR ‘scientific misconduct’ OR deception Only 21 top cited journals |
63 retracted articles | |
| Wager and Williams, 2011 | PubMed 1988–2009 Publication type: ‘Retraction of Publication’ Only publications in English (1/3 random sample of 1988–2004) |
870 retraction notices | Error: 28% Not reproducible: 11% Journal error: 1% Duplication: 17% Plagiarism: 16% Permission/Authorship dispute: 5% Fabrication: 5% Falsification: 4% Ethical problems: 1% Misconduct (unspecified): 2% Inaccurate reporting: 4% Unknown: 5% |