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A survey of retractions in the cardiovascular literature
Katia Audisio1, N Bryce Robinson1, Giovanni J Soletti1
1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
Insights
Cardiovascular literature retractions rose significantly over four decades, primarily due to scientific misconduct. While retractions increased overall, a recent decline in misconduct-related retractions was observed.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Medical Ethics
- Bibliometrics
Background:
- Retractions of erroneous and fraudulent biomedical papers are a significant concern.
- Analyzing trends in cardiovascular literature retractions is crucial for understanding research integrity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize the trends of retractions in cardiovascular literature over the past four decades (1978-2020).
Main Methods:
- A comprehensive review of the Retraction Watch database was conducted.
- Articles were selected based on publication dates (1978-2020) and relevance to cardiovascular medicine and surgery.
- Retraction notices were analyzed for reasons, trends, and geographical distribution.
Main Results:
- A total of 459 retractions were identified across 228 journals.
- The number and yearly percentage of retractions increased significantly over time, peaking before 2015.
- Scientific misconduct was the leading cause for retraction, though its rate decreased post-2015. China had the highest retraction percentage.
- The time from publication to retraction decreased significantly over the study period.
Conclusions:
- Retractions in cardiovascular research have significantly increased, with scientific misconduct as the primary driver.
- Despite an overall rise, a recent decrease in retractions and misconduct-related issues suggests potential improvements in research integrity.
- The findings highlight the importance of continued monitoring and addressing research misconduct in the cardiovascular field.
Background:
Retractions of erroneous and fraudulent papers from the biomedical literature continue to be a major concern. The aim of this analysis is to summarize trends of retractions in the cardiovascular literature over the past four decades.
Methods:
A review of the Retraction Watch database for retracted articles published between 1978 and 2020 in the cardiovascular literature was performed. Retractions with the term "medicine" in the subject code were selected. Titles and abstracts were reviewed and only retractions of articles in cardiovascular medicine and surgery were included.
Results:
459 retraction notices published in 228 journals were identified. The number of retractions increased with time from 1 in 1991 to 48 at the end of 2019 (P < 0.001). Overall, the yearly percentage of retraction increased during the study period (P < 0.001) but decreased after 2015. China had the highest percentage of retractions when compared to other countries (P < 0.001). The majority of articles were retracted for scientific misconduct (n = 289, 63.0%); retractions due to scientific misconduct increased significantly over the study period (P = 0.04) but decreased after 2015. The median time from publication to retraction was 1.4 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 0.6-3.8) and decreased significantly over time (P < 0.001). The median number of citations of retracted articles was 8.0.
Conclusions:
The number of retractions and the yearly percentage of retraction in the cardiovascular literature increased significantly during the study period, although a decrease was seen after 2015. Scientific misconduct represents the most common reason for retraction, although a reduction has been observed in the last five years.
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