Scientific publications can be rescinded for various reasons, which can be categorized by severity. Minor issues that are often corrected and then republished include administrative mistakes, reference errors, or copy-editing oversights. More serious grounds for retraction involve significant problems with the research itself, such as data fabrication, falsification of results, plagiarism, serious flaws in the research design, or unethical treatment of subjects.

Reasons for Retractions of Scientific Papers

The study presented in this paper looked at articles in the biomedical and medical fields that were published between 2010 and 2014 that were retracted prior to 2017. The study looked at readership of the articles, citations before and after the article was retracted, and social media shares. The purpose of the study was to see how the misinformation in retracted articles spreads and continues to spread after it has been removed from the literature. 

Study on Retracted Articles

An additional example of misinformation is retracted scientific articles. These articles present flawed information, whether intentionally or not. 

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Rumors, conspiracy theories, satire news, and hoaxes

Examples of Misinformation

Bar-Ilan, J., & Halevi, G. (2020). Retracted articles: The scientific version of fake news. In R. Greifeneder, M. Jaffé, E. J. Newman, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), The psychology of fake news: Accepting, sharing, and correcting misinformation (pp. 47–70). London: Routledge. 

Retracted articles: The scientific version of fake news

Example of Misinformation: Retracted Scientific Articles

A belief that (powerful) others are engaging in conspiratorial behavior (e.g. controlling less powerful others) or attempting to cover up the truth. 

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