"Whenever it is recognised that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. If, after an appropriate investigation, an item proves to be fraudulent, it should be retracted." So states the Code of Conduct that all members of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) should follow. In a Comment in this week's edition of The Lancet, Dr Sabine Kleinert, Lancet Senior Executive Editor (and vice-chair of COPE), discusses the issues surrounding retracting papers and announces new guidelines to tackle the problem from COPE.
A recent analysis of more than 300 retractions showed the reasons for retractions were: fabrication (5%), falsification (4%), plagiarism (16%), redundant publication (17%), disputed authorship or data ownership (5%), inaccurate or misleading reporting (4%), honest research errors (28%), non-replicable findings (11%), and not stated (9%). So at least 42%, likely more, were due to misconduct. In an earlier analysis, 27% of 395 articles were retracted because of scientific misconduct.
Dr Kleinert says the recent increase in retractions could be due to editors becoming better at taking action when they spot something is seriously wrong. She says: "However, retracting a published paper is time consuming and not easy. Authors may disagree or threaten legal action. Editors might either not act when they should or act inappropriately. In COPE's experience, editors have, for example, taken online articles down instead of marking them as retracted, continue to hide retractions behind access barriers, and regard retractions as a personal failure to identify and publish high-quality research."
COPE has thus issued new guidelines on retraction (see below), to assist both editors and authors. Dr Kleinert says: "All retractions should be clearly labelled as such, state the reasons, and should be openly accessible. Retracted articles should not be removed from electronic archives or printed copies of the journal."
She adds: "Some authors might not have committed misconduct but authorship means some degree of joint responsibility for the integrity of the reported research. So the guidelines conclude that 'it is not appropriate for authors to disassociate themselves from a retracted publication even if they were not directly culpable of any misconduct'."
She concludes: "It is hoped that editors will adopt these guidelines, state that they follow them in their instructions for authors, and by doing so indicate a strong commitment to foster and guard research integrity. Public trust in science will be the stronger for it."
Part of COPE's guidelines on retracting a paper or issuing an expression of concern
Journal editors should consider retracting a publication if:
- they have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (eg, data fabrication) or honest error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error)
- the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication)
- it constitutes plagiarism
- it reports unethical research
Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern if:
- they receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors
- there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors' institution will not investigate the case
- they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial, or conclusive
- an investigation is underway but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time
For Dr Sabine Kleinert, please contact The Lancet Press Office. T) +44 (0) 20 7424 4949 E) pressoffice@lancet.com
For full Comment, see: http://press.thelancet.com/cope.pdf
Journal
The Lancet