Iranian Journal of Information Management

Citation Fate of World Retracted Articles: The Comparative Study of Humanities, Medical Science, Engineering Science and Pure Science

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Assistant Professor, Scientometrics department, National Research Institute for Science policy (NRISP), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: In recent years, the rate of academic misconduct and consequently, the number of retracted articles in many countries has increased. Because the phenomenon of retraction often occurs in prestigious international journals and after the publication of paper, an article may retract many years later. In order to study retracted articles, the amount of post retraction citation is a most important subject in the scientific relationship and citation behavior of researchers in different areas.
Objective: The purpose of present study is to compare the world's retracted articles with regard to the amount of prior to retraction citations and post retraction citations by fields and countries.
Methodology: This is an applied research and has been conducted using scientometric methods and descriptive-analytical approach. Statistical population is all retracted articles of world in the fields of humanities, medical sciences, engineering science and pure science which have been indexed by Clarivate Analytics database from 1970 to 2017. All articles reviewed in Microsoft Excel for the citation status.
Findings: Research findings indicate that in all four areas, articles have also been cited after retraction. Except engineering field, which has received a high percentage of prior to retraction citations, other fields had a high percentage of post retraction citations. Among the countries with the most retracted articles in the Clarivate Analytics, all citations received by the United States, Iran and Sweden were post retraction citations.
Application: In fact this study is a policy research related to citation behavior of researchers of different fields in the world and can play an important role in determining the scientific luck of articles after retraction in different scientific disciplines.
Authenticity (originality) /value: In the field of scientific misconduct and retracted articles, there has been no research on the comparative study of the citation of these papers in various sciences.

Keywords

زمان‏زاده، وحید؛ غفوری‏فرد، منصور. 1395. کنکاشی بر چالش اخلاقی سوء رفتار علمی در مقالات علوم پزشکی: مصداق‏ها، علل و راهکارهای پیشگیری از آن. فصلنامه آموزش و اخلاق در پرستاری 5(1): 55-65.
عباسیان، زهره و رجب‌زاده عصارها، امیرحسین.1395. سلب اعتبار مقالات منتشر شده در نشریات. http://www.samimnoor.ir/view/fa/ArticleView?itemId=47 (دسترسی در 16 /10/ 1396)
مرادی، شیما؛ جنوی، المیرا. زودآیند. مطالعه علم­سنجی مقالات سلب اعتبار شده ایرانی. پژوهشنامه پردازش و مدیریت اطلاعات. http//Jipm.irandoc.ac.ir (دسترسی در 1/10/1396).
مرادی، شیما؛ جنوی، المیرا؛ کاظمی، حمید. 1396. مطالعه تطبیقی بدرفتاری علمی در جهان. مطالعه ملی کتابداری و سازماندهی اطلاعات 28 (4): 75-94.
پورنقی، رویا. 1396. سرقت علمی در میان دانشجویان دانشگاه‌ها: مطالعه مرور سیستماتیک و متاآنالیز. تهران: پژوهشگاه علوم و فناوری اطلاعات ایران.
Bar-Ilan J. and Halevi,G. 2017. Post Retraction Citations in Context: a case study. Scientometrics, 113(1): 547–565.
Budd, M., John, Coble, Z. and Anderson, K. 2011. Retracted Publications in Biomedicine: Cause for Concern. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 30–April 2,390-395.
Budd M. J, Coble, Z., & Abritis, A., 2016. An Investigation of Retracted Articles in the Biomedical Literature. · Proceeding
ASIST '16 Proceedings of the 79th ASIS&T Annual Meeting: Creating Knowledge, Enhancing Lives through Information & Technology. Article No. 55
Budd M. J. Sievert, M.E., & Schultz, T.R, Scoville, C. 1999. Effects of Article Retraction on Citation and Practice in Medicine. Bulletin of the medical library association, 87(4).
Chen, C.; Hu, Z.; Milbank, J.; Schultz, T. 2013. A Visual Analytic Study of Retracted Articles in Scientific Literature, JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 64(2):234–253
Cosentino, A. Mel., Ver´ıssimo, Diogo. 2016. Ending the citation of retracted papers. Conservation Biology 30(3): 676-678.
Enago Academy. 2016. 10 Types of Scientific Misconduct. https://www.enago.com/academy/10-types-of-scientific-misconduct/ (Retrieve 12/12/2016)
Fang, F. C., Steen, R. G., and Casadevall, A. 2012. Misconduct accounts for the majority of retracted scientific publications. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 109(42):17028–17033.
Gabehart, M. 2005. An analysis of citations to retracted articles in the scientific literature. A Master’s Paper for the M.S. in L.S degree.April, 41 pages. Advisor: Dr. Barbara Wildemuth.
Rosenkrantz, B. Andrew., (2016). Retracted Publications Within Radiology Journals. American Roentgen Ray Society 206:231–235.
Sarwar, Umran, & Nicolaou, Marios .2012. Fraud and deceit in medical research. Medical science 97(11): 1077–1081.
Singh, H. P., Mahendra, A., Yadav, B., Singh, H., Arora, N., & Arora, M. 2014. A Comprehensive Analysis of Articles Retracted Between 2004 and 2013 from Biomedical Literature – A Call for Reforms. Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine 4(3): 136–139. http://doi.org/10.4103/2225-4110.136264
Sugawara, Y., Tanimoto, T., Miyagawa, S., Murakami, M., Tsuya, A., Tanaka, A., & Narimatsu, H. 2017. Scientific misconduct and social media: role of twitter in the stimulus triggered acquisition of pluripotency cells scandal. Journal of Medical Internet research 19(2).
Unger K, Couzin J. 2006. Even retracted papers endure, Science  312(5770):40–41.
Wang, J., Ku, J., Alotaibi, N. M., & Rutka, J. T. 2017. Retraction of Neurosurgical Publications: A Systematic Review. World Neurosurgery 103:809-814.
Iranian Journal of Information Management
Volume 4, Issue 1 - Serial Number 6
September 2018
Pages 25-40
  • Receive Date: 06 February 2018
  • Revise Date: 27 August 2018
  • Accept Date: 03 September 2018