Continued Visibility of COVID-19 Article Removals

Overview

Journal South Med J

Specialties General Medicine
General Surgery

Date 2022 Jun 1

PMID 35649522

Authors

Christopher J Peterson

Caleb Anderson

Kenneth Nugent

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has produced an unprecedented amount of scientific research as well as a high number of article retractions. Social and news media have been used to disseminate scientific research, and this can include retracted or withdrawn research. This risks the persistence of low-quality research and may contribute to controversial ideas or conspiracy theories.

Methods: We examined 34 retracted or withdrawn coronavirus disease 2019 articles using alternative metrics.

Results: These articles continued to receive social and news media mentions up to 180 days postremoval, although most mentions occurred within 30 days postremoval. Articles available on preprint servers accounted for 45.5% of total mentions.

Conclusions: A significant, positive correlation was observed among Scimago Journal Rank, Immediacy Index, and Journal Citation Index, and total article mentions.

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