Ever curious which retracted papers have been most cited by other scientists? Below, we present the list of the 10 most highly cited retractions as of December 18, 2024. Readers will see some familiar entries, such as the infamous Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield that originally suggested a link between autism and childhood vaccines. You’ll note that some papers — including the #8 most cited paper — received more citations after they were retracted, which research has shown is an ongoing problem.
| Article | Year of retraction | Citing Articles before retraction | Citing Articles after retraction | Total cites (journals indexed by Web of Science) |
| 1. Pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult. Nature. June 20, 2002. Y Jiang, BN Jahagirdar, RL Reinhardt, RE Schwartz, CD Keene, XR Ortiz-Gonzalez, M Reyes, T Lenvik, T Lund, M Blackstad, J Du, S Aldrich, A Lisberg, WC Low, DA Largaespada, CM Verfaillie | 2024 | 4491 | 10 | 4501 |
| 2. Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as a treatment of COVID-19: results of an open-label non-randomized clinical trial. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. March 20, 2020. P Gautret, JC Lagier, P Parola, VT Hoang, L Meddeb, M Mailhe, B Doudier, J Courjon, V Giordanengo, VE Vieira, HT Dupont, S Honoré, P Colson, E Chabrière, B La Scola , JM Rolain, P Brouqui, D Raoult | 2024 | 3162 | 0 | 3162 |
| 3. 6-month consequences of COVID-19 in patients discharged from hospital: a cohort study. Lancet. January 8, 2021. C Huang, L Huang, Y Wang, X Li, L Ren, X Gu, L Kang, L Guo, M Liu, X Zhou, J Luo, Z Huang, S Tu, Y Zhao, L Chen, D Xu, Y Li, C Li, L Peng, Y Li, W Xie, D Cui, L Shang, G Fan, J Xu, G Wang, Y Wang, J Zhong, C Wang, J Wang, D Zhang, B Cao | 2023 | 2262 | 634 | 2896 |
| 4. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet. New England Journal of Medicine. April 4, 2013. R Estruch, E Ros, J Salas-Salvadó, M-I Covas, D Corella, F Arós, E Gómez-Gracia, V Ruiz-Gutiérrez, M Fiol, J Lapetra, RM Lamuela-Raventos, L Serra-Majem, X Pintó, J Basora, MA Muñoz, JV Sorlí, JA Martínez, MA Martínez-González, for the PREDIMED Study Investigators | 2018 | 1734 | 902 | 2636 |
| 5. A specific amyloid-β protein assembly in the brain impairs memory. Nature. March 16, 2008. S Lesné, MT Koh, L Kotilinek, R Kayed, CG Glabe, A Yang, M Gallagher, KH Ashe | 2024 | 2359 | 13 | 2372 |
| 6. Predictive Validity of a Medication Adherence Measure in an Outpatient Setting. The Journal of Clinical Hypertension. May 2, 2008. DE Morisky, A Ang, M Krousel-Wood, HJ Ward | 2023 | 1930 | 161 | 2091 |
| 7. MicroRNA signatures of tumor-derived exosomes as diagnostic biomarkers of ovarian cancer. Gynecologic Oncology. June 25, 2008. DD Taylor, C Gercel-Taylor | 2023 | 1868 | 66 | 1934 |
| 8. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. Lancet. February 28, 1998. AJ Wakefield, SH Murch, A Anthony, J Linnell, DM Casson, M Malik, M Berelowitz, AP Dhillon, MA Thomson, P Harvey, A Valentine, SE Davies, JA Walker-Smith. | 2010 | 643 | 1074 | 1717 |
| 9. Recent progress in processing and properties of ZnO. Progress in Materials Science. May 28, 2004. SJ Pearton, DP Norton, K Ip, YW Heo, T Steiner | 2020 | 1550 | 79 | 1629 |
| 10. Visfatin: A protein secreted by visceral fat that mimics the effects of insulin. Science. January 21, 2005. A Fukuhara, M Matsuda, M Nishizawa, K Segawa, M Tanaka, K Kishimoto, Y Matsuki, M Murakami, T Ichisaka, H Murakami, E Watanabe, T Takagi, M Akiyoshi, T Ohtsubo, S Kihara, S Yamashita, M Makishima, T Funahashi, S Yamanaka, R Hiramatsu, Y Matsuzawa, I Shimomura | 2007 | 232 | 1319 | 1551 |
Note: To obtain the number of citations before and after a retraction was issued, we relied on the “Citation index” portion of Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science (WoS), which only adds up the number of citations from journals indexed by the WoS Core Collection. Therefore, the citation count using just those two values can be lower than the total citation count for each article listed by WoS. Those eagle-eyed readers may notice that the column headings have been changed slightly; this was to better reflect the criteria causing the discrepancy in total counts.