Dear Retraction Watch reader:
Sometime this week or early next week, we will publish our 6,000th post. That means we’ve averaged nearly 500 per year since we launched a bit more than 12 years ago.
Wow.
And yet that’s not nearly all we do here at Retraction Watch. We — and by that I mean our researcher Alison Abritis and a small but very merry band of freelancers — maintain the most comprehensive database of retractions available. That database, which at last count contains more than 37,000 retractions, is now used by three leading reference managers — EndNote, Papers, and Zotero — to power their retraction alerts, and has been the basis of scores of scholarly papers.
This year, we also launched the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker, in partnership with Anna Abalkina.
Thanks to growing revenue from partnerships, consulting work for a responsible conduct of research grant, and individual donations, co-founder Adam Marcus and I — who are both volunteers — were able to support all of these efforts and do something we said we wanted to in our Giving Tuesday appeal last year: Hire an editor for the site.
We’re thrilled at the work that Ellie Kincaid has already produced — including multiple exclusives and other stories that have had an impact — and can’t wait to see what else she does at Retraction Watch. But there are always more stories to tell, and we want to ensure that Ellie and the freelancers she works with have as long a runway as possible, and breathing room to report deeply.
And that’s where you come in. This Giving Tuesday, please consider a tax-deductible donation to support the Center For Scientific Integrity, our parent non-profit organization. You can make a one-time tax-deductible contribution by PayPal or by Square, or a monthly tax-deductible donation by Paypal. Or if you prefer to send a check, please make it out to The Center For Scientific Integrity and mail it to 121 W. 36th St., Suite 209, New York, NY 10018. Should you be in a position to donate securities, please contact me at [email protected] for instructions.
We aim for transparency in our financials, and have just posted our 2021 tax return, as we do every year, so that you can see where every dollar goes.
Thank you in advance, and thank you for your ongoing support.
Best,
Ivan Oransky
Co-Founder