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Retractions rising

retractions.bmpThe percentage of scientific journal articles that are retracted has risen from 0.0007% in 1990 to 0.007% last year.

That’s according to an analysis performed by academic-data provider Thomson Reuters, for Times Higher Education (THE). In 1990 just five of the nearly 690,000 journal articles covered by its Science Citation Index Expanded were retracted. Last year, it was 95 out of 1.4 million.

THE quotes James Parry, acting head of the UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO), as suggesting that a ‘conservative’ estimate of actual misconduct might be 1% – in which case, we’d expect to find 15,000 articles retracted a year. So, Parry reckons: “This suggests significant under-detection, which fits with what editors have told UKRIO”.

The stat may suggest that editors are increasingly prepared to investigate claims of scientific fraud or error. “Anyone looking at this problem in detail knows of dozens of papers that are frankly fraudulent, but they are never retracted,” says Aubrey Blumsohn, a campaigner and blogger for greater openness in research conduct.

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