Unraveling Retraction Dynamics in COVID-19 Research: Patterns, Reasons, and Implications
Parul Khurana, Ziya Uddin, Kiran Sharma
TL;DR
The paper tackles the problem of integrity in an unusually rapid COVID-19 literature surge by analyzing 400 retracted COVID-19 papers from Retraction Watch. It combines data validation, author-position gender inference, and network analysis to characterize retractions across journal quartiles, reasons, time-to-retraction, and country collaborations. Key findings include a concentration of retractions in 2021 and 2023, a large share from high-impact Q1 journals, prevalence of data-related and multiple-reason retractions, and distinct patterns in geographic and gender dynamics. The study provides actionable insights for editors, researchers, and policymakers to strengthen oversight, improve transparency, and promote equitable authorship in fast-moving scientific domains, with practical implications for research integrity and patient safety.
Abstract
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while the world sought solutions, some scholars exploited the situation for personal gains through deceptive studies and manipulated data. This paper presents the extent of 400 retracted COVID-19 papers listed by the Retraction Watch database until February 2024. The primary purpose of the research was to analyze journal quality and retraction trends. For all stakeholders involved, such as editors, relevant researchers, and policymakers, evaluating the journal's quality is crucial information since it could help them effectively stop such incidents and their negative effects in the future. The present research results imply that one-fourth of publications were retracted within the first month of their publication, followed by an additional 6\% within six months of publication. One-third of the retractions originated from Q1 journals, with another significant portion coming from Q2 (29.8). A notable percentage of the retracted papers (23.2\%) lacked publishing impact, signifying their publication as conference papers or in journals not indexed by Scopus. An examination of the retraction reasons reveals that one-fourth of retractions were due to numerous causes, mostly in Q2 journals, and another quarter were due to data problems, with the majority happening in Q1 publications. Elsevier retracted 31 of the papers, with the majority published in Q1, followed by Springer (11.5), predominantly in Q2. Retracted papers were mainly associated with the USA, China, and India. In the USA, retractions were primarily from Q1 journals followed by no-impact publications; in China, it was Q1 followed by Q2, and in India, it was Q2 followed by no-impact publications. The study also examined author contributions, revealing that 69.3 were male contributors, with females (30.7) mainly holding middle author positions.