Table 2.

Characteristics of retracted publications

	All retracted publications (n=136)		Retracted publications cited after retraction (n=84)
	n	(%)	n	(%)
Reason for retraction
Ethical misconduct	80	(58.8%)	53	(63.1%)
Scientific distortion	37	(27.2%)	22	(26.2%)
Unknown	9	(6.6%)	5	(6.0%)
Administrative error	10	(7.4%)	4	(4.8%)
Study design
Observational	35	(25.7%)	25	(29.8%)
In vitro	25	(18.4%)	19	(22.6%)
Case report	25	(18.4%)	13	(15.5%)
Randomized clinical trials (RCTs)	15	(11.0%)	12	(14.3%)
Expert opinion	20	(14.7%)	11	(13.1%)
Animal study	12	(8.8%)	4	(4.8%)
Other	3	(2.2%)	0	(-)
Unknown	1	(0.7%)	0	(-)