Correcting The Pandemic: Analysis Of Corrections To Journal Articles On Covid-19 And Ebola

Abstract

COVID-19, declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020 and as pandemic on 12 March 2020 [1], has brought unprecedented interest in research about this disease, resulting in massive publication output and shortened time to publish [2]. The need for rapid communication of research puts pressure on journals to balance rigorous review process with publication speed. Recent retractions in two major medical journals [3] have put doubt on the ability of journals to deal with these pressures. Some journals have already warned about the quality of evidence on COVID-19 [4] and there is concern that poor quality research on COVID-19 presents research waste and prevents pandemic response based on evidence