If 2024 felt like a whirlwind, you’re not alone. It was another busy one here at Retraction Watch, too.
Some numbers to tell that story:
- 2024 was a record traffic year for us, with 7.5 million pageviews – a 15 percent jump from the previous record, set in 2015, thanks to a scoop some longtime readers may remember.
- Here’s our top 10 list by traffic (in a thread over at Bluesky, which we joined in November).
- The Retraction Watch Database – now part of Crossref – has just shy of 55,000 retraction entries, and counting.
A sampling of a few other key accomplishments this year:
- We published four major investigations in Science. One piece exposed what one researcher called a “nasty” publishing scheme at a dental school to boost its global rankings. Another revealed that paper mills – a major scourge of today’s publishers – have been bribing editors at prestigious journals to ensure their clients’ work is published. We also found companies are preying on doctors desperate to publish papers to obtain U.S. residencies. And just last week, we revealed that shoddy commentaries were overwhelming journals in a bid to boost metrics.
- Our reporting at Retraction Watch has had significant impact, including the resignation of deans in Nevada and Indonesia, the retraction of a flawed paper in economics, and the retraction of 80 papers at once for compromised peer review.
- We published op-eds in El Pais, Thanh Nien, and The Washington Post.
- Anna Abalkina, our partner on the Retraction Watch Hijacked Journal Checker, was named one of the Nature 10, a “list of people who shaped science in 2024.”
- We gave testimony to the Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Science and Research.
- We gave invited talks around the world, from Albuquerque to Glasgow to Paris.
- Our work was cited by or featured in publications including The BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, Nature, NBC News, New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Undark, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal.
- Peer-reviewed studies continue to cite The Retraction Watch Database, and the blog, regularly.
- The site is much more stable, thanks to the behind-the-scenes volunteer efforts of Michael Dayah. Thank you, Michael, and Karl Lehenbauer, who introduced us!
We’ll have some exciting news to share in the beginning of 2025 – the year in which we’ll celebrate our 15th birthday – so stay tuned.
In the meantime, all of these efforts require resources. If you value our work, please consider a tax-deductible donation to support it. 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.
Thank you for all of your support. Happy New Year!