New Feature Alert: Retracted Articles

Keeping up with the latest literature is difficult with thousands of articles getting published every day. Adding to that layer of difficulty is making sure your own personal library of literature is updated with any changes publishers make, including those articles that have been retracted by
publishers.

Retraction of a published article indicates that the ideas, methodology, or results presented in the original article are shown to be scientifically invalid, and therefore can no longer serve as an influential element in a particular scientific discourse. The most common reasons for retraction are scientific misconduct (i.e., falsification, plagiarism) or unintended errors. Retractions are typically initiated by journal editors or by the article’s authors themselves. Retraction of a research paper may have important implications for clinical practice and present and future research initiatives. Patients and research participants may be put at risk if decisions are based on findings that are later retracted because they were incorrect or unreliable.

While there are databases where you can find article retraction data, it’s tough to constantly comb through their entirety to update your own library. That’s why Papers is excited to introduce an easy way to recognize retracted articles.

When browsing through PubMed, Dimensions, or any of the journal sites, the Papers browser extension will show an alert for retracted articles. You can still import the full-text and metadata into your personal and shared libraries or any of your lists.

When the article is imported, the title will include its retraction status. As an added reminder, you will also receive a warning notification in the enhanced web reader. You can then find more information about the article’s status directly from the publisher.

Please note, this will not work on articles that are retraction notices. This means the alerts will only show on articles whose DOI’s have been retracted and not on new publications that announce the retraction.

Article retraction is still in early development, but hopefully, it will alert you to any new notices and keep your library updated.