Disgraced COVID-19 studies are still routinely cited

Abstract

Journal mentions of studies based on disputed data from Surgisphere often fail to clearly flag retractions. The Surgisphere scandal—involving a dubious database of hospital records used to draw sweeping conclusions about COVID-19 medicines—caused retractions from high-profile journals and prompted thousands of articles in the popular and scholarly press. Yet despite those June 2020 retractions, many researchers continue to cite the disgraced papers as if nothing unusual happened. A Science review found that more than half of the 200 most recently published papers that cited the retracted articles—including many in influential journals—failed to note the retractions. The lack of effective oversight by journal editors and reviewers means the invalidated database, suspected by some to be nonexistent, continues to infect the evidence base for battling the COVID-19 pandemic.