Retraction Watch Database User Guide

updated October 23, 2024

Welcome to the Retraction Watch Database (RWDB). We’ve prepared this document to help you get started, and to answer some questions that are likely to come up. This document will evolve as users have more questions, so please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. 

As of October 23, 2024, searches are required to have criteria entered in at least one of the following fields:

• Author 
• Title
• Journal
• Publisher
• Affiliation(s)
• Country(s)
• Article Types(s)
• Original Paper Date ranges
• Retraction or Other Notices Date Ranges
• PMID or DOI for either original paper, notice, or both

This became necessary because the rapidly expanding size of the RWDB has led to overload, slowing data entry by our team and in some cases grinding it to a halt.

For those who wish to do unlimited searching or view the entire dataset, it is  readily obtained through Crossref. 

For details on how we gather data, please see this file. Also please review this exciting announcement about the open availability of the database thanks to its acquisition by Crossref. The entire database can be readily accessed through this link. We strongly encourage you to use the link if you are doing multiple searches, or searches designed to return numerous entries.  Just keep in mind that the information will change as the entries in the RWDB are added or amended.

Should you wish to reference the Retraction Watch Database, we suggest the following as a basic form (of course, different citation styles may require different formatting):

The Retraction Watch Database [Internet]. New York: The Center for Scientific Integrity. 2018. ISSN: 2692-4579. [Cited (applicable date)]. Available from: http://retractiondatabase.org/.

 

1.  How do I start searching?

As of October 23, 2024, the criteria for running searches has changed.  Due to the rapidly expanding size of the RWDB, significant slowdowns in searches and data entry are occurring.  To counter this issue, we are now requiring searches to have criteria entered in at least one of the following fields:

• Author 
• Title
• Journal
• Publisher
• Affiliation(s)
• Country(s)
• Article Types(s)
• Original Paper Date ranges
• Retraction or Other Notices Date Ranges
• PMID or DOI for either original paper, notice, or both

These fields should be sufficient for the casual or sporadic user.  For those wishing more expansive searches, the entire database can be readily obtained through the Crossref’s link here.  

The maximum number of entries that the database will show is 50, but the total number of entries for the search will show in a yellow banner above the results.

Keep in mind that this search will return not just retractions, but also the corrections and expressions of concern in the database. (See Question 11.) That means you’ll want to limit your search to retractions; the entire database can be readily obtained through the Crossref’s link here, and retractions isolated from the download.  

Whenever you want to change your search, just click on “Clear Search”, which will clear all search fields. 

In general, if you’re doing any kind of research project, we recommend you consult with us to make sure you know what is — and what isn’t — possible given what’s in the database. Again, we also heartily recommend that you use a complete dataset, which is available here.  We are happy to help you understand the RWDB and the information within, so please contact us at [email protected] with any questions.

2.  But I don’t want all of the entries. How do I search using specific criteria?

You can type in any of the following fields:

• Author 
• Title
• Journal
• Publisher
• Affiliation(s)
• Country(s)
• Article Types(s)
• Original Paper Date ranges
• Retraction or Other Notices Date Ranges
• PMID or DOI for either original paper, notice, or both

The more fields you fill in, the more specific the search; the fewer fields you use, the more general. For example, if you are looking for the number of entries in a particular journal during a particular time frame, you can complete the Journal and Dates fields to narrow your results.

Using multiple fields defaults to the Boolean “AND” for each field. Searches for multiple words in the same field use Boolean criteria: “AND”, “OR”, and “AND NOT”.  You can also use a wildcard character (*) before or after your selected word/phrase to enlarge your search parameters. Special characters (e.g., cyrillic, character letters) are generally acceptable, but hidden formatting may prevent a textual match.

Some fields (for example: Journal) have drop-down menus signified by a little “arrow box” at the end of the field. You can either type in your choice or select from the drop-down menu.  Fields without a drop-down menu require a free text entry – just type keywords or phrases. The database reads the fields left to right; while suggestions may at times appear below the field (e.g., Title), no text will appear unless the text matches the entry characters, left to right. If a suggestion field reads “No Matches Found – Use Search for Further Results,”  using the green Search button will allow the database to search the field for all entries matching the string of characters anywhere in the field.

Drop-down menus allow you to select for a specific item, which can narrow the responses.  For example, typing “Biochemistry” in the Journal field will return all journals with “Biochemistry” in the title.  However, selecting “Biochemistry” from the drop-down menu will return only entries from the journal “Biochemistry”. Making multiple selections from the drop-down menu will cause the database to list the selections using the Boolean choice “OR”.  To change to “AND” or “AND NOT”, simply erase the “OR” (leaving the quotation marks) and enter the preferred option between the quotation marks. 

Dates, PubMed ID numbers, and DOIs can be searched either for the original article or for the relevant notice. One important note about Dates: Some publishers merely overwrite the original article’s HTML page with the retraction notice, making the actual date of retraction impossible to discern.  In such cases, the entry will have matching dates for both the original article and for the retraction notice. Some publishers overwrite the original article’s HTML page, but assign the retracted article to an actual print issue. In such cases, the date of the original article is the earlier of the two dates on the HTML page.  As resources allow, we are confirming the accuracy of dates but data analyses based on dates alone may have inherent errors.

More information as to each of the fields returned in the entries can be found in Appendix A.

3.  I am looking for a particular author (or title, or …).  Why can’t I find it?

For any “free text” entry, searching is best performed by using keywords instead of full titles or affiliations. The searches are not case-sensitive, but make sure that you have the same spelling as on the publication. Hidden formatting can cause problems in locating titles or author names. You can also use the wildcard function, i.e. if the author’s name is John Doe try *doe*, in case the name on the article is slightly different, e.g. “John P Doe Jr”.  Of course, it may not be the same person, so you should cross-check entries returned to be sure.

The database has been updated to include many non-Latin characters.  However, many journals have hidden formats, or have spelled out certain Greek letters, such as “beta” for β.  Diacritical marks are allowed, but are not required for search results, e.g., “Zidek” entered as an author search will (usually) return entries with “Zidek” and “Žídek”. Again, hidden formatting can make differences in search returns.

4.  How do I find retractions from authors out of ______ (fill in the affiliation)?

The Affiliation field is a free text field.  You can search by using the name of the institution, or any part of the address.  As many affiliations are listed differently on different publications (e.g., Bluebird Teaching Hospital might also be listed as Bluebird Teaching and Research Hospital in a separate publication), consider searching using the wildcard function with fewer keywords

5.  For Reason(s) for Retraction, what does ________ (fill in the blank) mean?

The Reason(s) for Retractions were originally drawn from the tags used in our blog posts, but choices have grown over time.  As a general rule, the reasons are selected from the information provided in the notice, coupled with information we have gained through our own investigations, or investigations by other trusted sources.

For specific information for each reason for retraction, see Appendix B.   

6.  For Article Type(s), what does ________ (fill in the blank) mean?

For the most part, the article types can be taken at face value, e.g.,; “Book Chapter/Reference Work” would apply to a chapter in a book, or an entry in an encyclopedic volume.

“Research Article” would be the most common article type, where a hypothesis is offered and then authors explain how and why it was proved or not.  The second most common would be “Review Article”; this label was applied to articles that discuss a topic without offering new research findings.  However, it also incorporates more specific types of review papers, such as book reviews.

At times, more than a single “Article Type” might be applied to an entry.  For example, a research project that was published in the journal’s correspondence section would have both “Letter” and “Research Article” applied to it.  A literature review published online ahead of print and thus not assigned to a journal volume would have both “Article In Press” and “Review Article” applied.

Some retractions are taken from different types of sources, such as newspapers, magazines or book chapters. Retraction studies generally focus only on scholarly literature; users should be attentive to the types of articles returned in the searches.

For specific information for each article type, see Appendix C. 

Special Cases: Preprints and Revised Guidelines:

Preprints, guidelines, and reviews (such as those published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews) often undergo several revisions which can be overwritten on the original HTML page. Each revision may have its own DOI, which can lead to a problem for those hoping to keep track of the status of a given article. For example, the first version published may be given a DOI, and updated versions may overwrite the same html page but have a different doi – usually with something like “.v2” or ”. pub2” after the original DOI. However, if a retraction is later published, the retraction will then apply to all versions, including the original article. As we do not currently have the ability to include several DOIs in the same entry, users who store later versions in digital libraries risk their stored version not being flagged as retracted.

To address such problems, we are entering the original article as well as the revision(s) into the RWDB, provided the revisions have a DOI. This will allow people with different versions in their digital library to be aware of the retraction. However, this can also falsely inflate retraction numbers in general, and more specifically for journals and for the authors themselves. To help alleviate this issue, users should look for the term “Revision” in the article type. The term “Revision” will be added only to the revised versions of the original article. Consideration should be given as to whether to include or omit the revised versions from retraction counts based on the user’s intentions. In this way, the RWDB can be useful to those who need it to maintain the current status of their bibliography as well as to those researchers who tally counts of types of retractions for journals, authors, and other criteria.

7.   Do I have to search by the information on Retraction Notices only?

Not at all.  On the right side of the Search page are two boxes – one labeled “Original Paper” and one labeled “Retraction or Other Notices”.  “Original Paper” refers to a title of a published work for which we have entered some type of notice. The “Retraction or Other Notices ” refers to retraction notices, as well as corrections, expressions of concern or reinstatements.  You can then search by the information on the original article or on the relevant notice.

8.  How do I search using specific dates (or years)?   

Each box on the right hand side allows for searches specific to either original articles or specific to retraction (or other) notices.  Using a MM/DD/YYYY format, you can search within a specific timeframe for the article, the notice or both. Use the “From Date” or “To” fields to give more general time frames (e.g. from 1/1/2000 to 1/1/2020). Some journals do not use a standard date format.  To compensate, we are using a date convention for entries:

• When the actual day of publication is unknown, the day assigned will always be “1”.  Thus, June 2009 will be entered as 6/1/2009.
• For publications using a month range (e.g., March-June 2009), the first month of the range will be entered (e.g. 3/1/2009).
• Seasonal dates, such as Spring 2009, require a bit more creativity.  For our purposes, we use the following coding: Spring = 3; Summer = 6; Fall = 9; Winter = 12.  Thus, Spring 2009 would be entered as 3/1/2009.
• Some journals only offer a volume number and year.  In such cases, volumes numbered 1-11 would be entered using the volume in place of the month.  So Vol 6, 2009 would be entered as 6/1/2009. For volumes 12 or greater, use 12 as the month – Vol 22, 2009 would be entered 12/1/2009.

9.  Are there other ways to search for Articles or Retraction Notices?

You can also search using the Pubmed ID (PMID) or by the DOI for the article and/or the associated notice in the boxes on the right side of the Search screen.  The wildcard * can be used for partial numbers, e.g. entering “ 28*” in the Pubmed ID field will return all entries with PMIDs beginning with “28”.

10.  The article __________ (insert title) is listed in the journal as “Withdrawn,” but you have it in the database as a Retraction.  Why?

For our purposes, if an entire article (or letter, or review, etc.) was indicated as having been removed from publication either temporarily or permanently, it is considered to be “retracted”. Using words like “Removed” or “Withdrawn” may have procedural meaning to the publisher or journal editor, but the end result is that the published item is not considered appropriate for citation at that time, and we therefore just use the term retracted. We use “Reason(s) for Retraction” to note if the item was removed for a brief period and returned intact (“Temporary Removal”) or if it was republished after changes made (“Retract and Replace”).  

Similarly, many publishers and journals have different internal requirements for their use of erratum, corrigendum, and correction.  Fundamentally, each means that a change has been made to a published article, but that the article has not been removed from publication.  As there is no consistency in use, we just lump all into one category of “Correction”. “Partial Retractions”, where certain sections or conclusions of an article are deemed invalid and not to be used for citation purposes, are also considered “Corrections” as the article remains in journal contents and is still considered citable.

However, some publishers will use “Correction” or “Erratum” as a notice title instead of the more appropriate “Retraction” (or otherwise), and then explain in the body of the notice that the article is being retracted (withdrawn, removed, etc.). In such cases, we defer to the actual textual explanation and will consider it a retraction notice. 

“Expression of Concern” is used to cover any editorial note that is not a retraction or correction which addresses the status or reception of a published item.

11.  Why am I seeing corrections and expressions of concern in a database of retractions?

Often retracted articles have corrections and editorial concerns published prior to (and sometimes after) the official retraction, so we include them as we find them.  We also include corrections and expressions of concern when we have posted about them on Retraction Watch, or when they reference an article by a person we have posted about.

While we have no plans at this time to include all types of notices in the database, it has not been precluded as a possibility for a later project.

12. I think you should….  OR, How do I…… OR, I tried but I couldn’t…….

Input from users is vital to ensure the best possible outcome, so please feel free to send any comments or questions to [email protected].

Because we are aware that the RWDB is being used for research purposes, we know that users may need to know when we make changes to the RWDB and why they are occurring.  Appendix D (Database Changes) contains a table of the changes, starting from 7/1/2020, which will show the field affected, the change and the reason for the change.  This table will not include minor changes (e.g., correcting the spelling in a journal or author name).

If you know of a retraction that you cannot find in the database, you can submit the information through this link. Remember, this isn’t for papers that you think should be retracted; you can send information about those to [email protected].

And thank you for being a part of our work. Your interest and support are what makes this possible.