Tools & Resources, Publishing

Retraction Watch Revisited

Retraction Watch Revisited

The Retraction Watch website was highlighted in a 2023 Inside Science Resources post (Kipnis, 2020). Several features of the website were mentioned including the blog, the Retraction Watch Leaderboard and the Retraction Watch Database. New features of the website include the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker, a list of retracted papers on COVID-19 as well as the continued growth of the Retraction Watch Database. Retraction Watch data has also been integrated into some reference managers and Third Iron products like BrowZine and LibKey.

Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker

The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journals Checker was released in May 2022. Hijacked journals are a type of predatory journal that use legitimate journal names along with other hijacked information like the journal’s ISSN number to create their own journal website without the original journal’s knowledge. Hijacked journals may even include the same papers as the original journal. In some instances, the rights to a journal may be purchased by a publisher, but the publisher changed the journal’s publication practices (like peer review) without the public’s knowledge (“The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker,” n.d.). The Hijacked Journal Checker is a spreadsheet that includes the hijacked journal title, the URL, ISSN and the original journal title and its ISSN (Figure 1). The June 2, 2022 update includes 135 titles that were located or active from 2020 onwards.

Figure 1: Screenshot of the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker

COVID-19 Retractions

COVID-19 retractions are also highlighted on this site. As of June 2022, there were over 200 COVID-19 retracted papers and 13 expressions of concern identified.

Retraction Watch Database

The Retraction Watch Database was launched in 2018. It is a free, curated database of journal article retractions. When the database was introduced, it consisted of over 18,000 retractions (Oransky, 2018). As of May 28, 2022, there are more than 34,000 retractions listed (Oransky, 2022). In addition to being able to search by author, title, journal, DOI, PubMedID, and other identifiers, it is also possible to search by type of retraction (Figure 2). Appendix B of the database User Guide includes over 100 retraction reasons with descriptions.

Figure 2: Retraction Watch Database search screen

Retraction Watch Integrations

Retraction Watch data has also been integrated with some reference managers to help identify retracted articles. EndNote (20.2 update), Zotero, and Papers are listed as having the Retraction Watch Database integration so users can be alerted if an article added into their library has since been retracted (Oransky, 2022). Figure 3 shows an example of how Zotero has integrated this information.

Figure 3: Example of a retracted article in Zotero

Third Iron has integrated Retraction Watch data into their products and services, such as BrowZine (Figure 4) and LibKey services such as LibKey Nomad, LibKey Link and LibKey.io (“Retracted Articles, Considered,” n.d.). LibKey also displays retraction data when it is integrated using an API into discovery services such as Primo, Summon or EBSCO Discovery Service (Figure 5).

Figure 4: Example of a retracted article notice in BrowZine

Figure 5: Example of a retracted article notice in Primo

Retraction Watch continues to be a valuable resource on retracted journal articles and hijacked journals. New features like the Retraction Watch Database integrations also make it easier for researchers to identify journal articles that have been retracted.

References

Kipnis, D. G. (2020, April 13). Retraction Watch. Inside Science Resources.

Oransky, I. (2018, October 27). Weekend reads: Our database of 18,000-plus retractions is launched; inside a trial gone wrong; scholarly publishers bow to censorship. Retraction Watch.

Oransky, I. (2022). Weekend reads: Female driver stereotypes; ‘stealth research’; AI comes to fake scientific images. Retraction Watch.

Retracted articles, considered. (n.d.). Third Iron Newsletter. Retrieved June 6, 2022.

The Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker. (n.d.). Retraction Watch. Retrieved June 6, 2022.

Marie Speare, Acting Head, Sciences Division and Liaison Librarian for Chemistry and Engineering, University of Manitoba

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One thought on “Retraction Watch Revisited”

  1. Lee et.al Sci.Adv (8) 22 April 22 2022 plagurized a prior art patent published by the USPTO on August 28 2018.

    The authors copied and paraphrased th we wording of the patent and fraudulently claimed credit for the theory of macromolecular coalescence of DWNT nanotubes as a method of increasing their tensile strength beyond
    1 terrapascal- far exceeding the world record.

    The authors should have given proper credit in their list of references. And SCIENCE ADVANCES should issue a retraction and an addendum to the References and should not be a party to the fraud committed by the authors.

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