Retracted articles - the scientific version of fake news

Abstract

Retracted articles, especially those retracted due to misconduct, data fabrication, or manipulation and other ethical issues should be considered as the scientific version of fake news. Such articles, especially those published in the medical and biomedical sciences, put not only the scientific integrity in danger but also have the potential to harm public health. In today’s reality, where many people receive most of their science and medical information from social media, fabricated results of medical research could potentially have devastating outcomes to human health. One of the problems with retracted articles is that it sometimes takes several years for them to be identified. In the meantime, they might continue to be read, shared, reported on, and cited in the scientific and lay persons’ literature and media outlets. This chapter describes some of the characteristics of problematic medical articles that were retracted from the literature due to a variety of reasons ranging from ethical misconduct, data fabrication, and manipulation to plagiarism and showcases their characteristics and impact in the scientific and social outlets.