Publication and retraction in the era of SARS-Cov-2 and COVID-19

Authors

Keywords:

bibliometrics, pandemic, publication retraction, scientific publication.

Abstract

The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 accelerated the review and acceptance time of manuscripts, increased free access to published information on the subject, and popularized manuscript servers, preliminary versions, or preprints. That is why the objective of the study focused on evaluating the trends in the dynamics of retractions and determining existing patterns among the variables analyzed. A bibliometric analysis of articles associated with the pandemic was carried out. The trends and dynamics of 103 retracted manuscripts from December 2019 to June 2021 were evaluated. This evidenced an inspiring association with shorter review time, as well as with manuscripts published in Q1 and Q2 journals of Scimago Journal Rank. Likewise, the number of retracted articles decreased nine months after the declaration of a pandemic. Although the pandemic positively impacted on the process of disseminating scientific information, editorial policies should include control mechanisms that persuade authors about unethical behavior.

References

Beldarraín ER. La información científica confiable y la COVID-19. Revista Cubana de Información en Ciencias de la Salud. 2020 [acceso 10/01/2022];31(3):1-6. Disponible en: https://www.medigraphic.com/cgi-bin/new/resumen.cgi?IDARTICULO=101253&id2=

Besançon L, Peiffer-Smadja, N, Segalas C, Jiang H, Masuzzo P, Smout C, et al. Open science saves lives: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 2021;21(1):1-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-021-01304-y

Eisen MB, Akhmanova A, Behrens TE, Harper DM, Weigel D, Zaidi M. Implementing a “publish, then review” model of publishing. ELife. 2020;9:1-3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/ELIFE.64910

Nature research. Coronavirus; 2021. Disponible en: https://n9.cl/979di

Horbach SP. Pandemic publishing: Medical journals strongly speed up their publication process for COVID-19. Quantitative Science Studies. 2020;1(3):1056-67. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00076

Benos DJ, Fabres J, Farmer J, Gutiérrez JP, Hennessy K, Kosek D, et al. Ethics and scientific publication. Adv Physiol Educ. 2005;29(2):59-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00056.2004.

Agoramoorthy G, Hsu MJ, Shieh P. Queries on the COVID‐19 quick publishing ethics. Bioethics. 2020;34(6):633-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/BIOE.12772

Bramstedt KA. The carnage of substandard research during the COVID-19 pandemic: a call for quality. Journal of Medical Ethics. 2020;46(12):803-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/MEDETHICS-2020-106494

Ledford H, Van Noorden R. High-profile coronavirus retractions raise concerns about data oversight. Nature. 2020;582(7811):160-1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01695-w

Pederson T. Publishing coronavirology: Peering into peer (less?) review. The FASEB Journal. 2020;34(8):9825. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.202001592

Santos-d'Amorim K, de Melo RR, dos Santos RN. Retractions and post-retraction citations in the COVID-19 infodemic: is Academia spreading misinformation. Liinc em Revista. 2021;17(1):e5593. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18617/liinc.v17i1.5593

Masia JR, González VH. Artículos científicos: tipos, secciones y publicación. Movimiento humano. 2012 [acceso 10/01/2022];3:9-15. Disponible en: https://www.raco.cat/index.php/RevMovHum/article/download/258807/346095

Esene IN, Ngu J, El Zoghby M, Solaroglu I, Sikod AM, Kotb A, et al. Case series and descriptive cohort studies in neurosurgery: the confusion and solution. Child's Nervous System. 2014;30(8):1321-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-014-2460-1

Argumedo U, Siqueiros D. Cambios en la estructura de la asociación de diatomeas epifitas de Macrocystis pyrifera (L.) C. Ag. Acta botánica mexicana. 2008 [acceso 10/01/2022];82:43-66. Disponible en: http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?pid=S0187-71512008000100005&script=sci_arttext

Elgazzar A, Eltaweel A, Youssef SA, Hany B, Hafez M, Moussa H. Efficacy and Safety of Ivermectin for Treatment and prophylaxis of COVID-19 Pandemic [Preprint]. 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-100956/v3

Pollock NW. Retraction of Scientific Writing. Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. 2020;31(3):257. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wem.2020.07.001

Grech V. COVID-19 and potential global mortality-revisited. Early human development. 2020 [acceso 11/01/2022];144:105054. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32387001/

Coolidge HJ. Archibald Cary Coolidge. Houghton Mifflin. 1932. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jnhrc.v15i1.18005

Rawat S, Meena S. Publish or perish: Where are we heading? Journal of research in medical sciences: the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. 2014 [acceso 11/01/2022];19(2):87. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24778659/

Callaway E. Will the pandemic permanently alter scientific publishing? Nature. 2020;582(7811):167-8. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01520-4

Else H. How a torrent of COVID science changed research publishing-in seven charts. Nature. 2020:553. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03564-y

Peerj Community. Peer review for COVID-19-related manuscripts across all PeerJ journals. 2021 [acceso 11/01/2022]. Disponible en: https://peerj.com/blog/post/115284882180/covid-19-full-fee-waivers-fast-track-peer-review/

Jiménez-Martínez MC, Latorre-Velásquez DC, Ramírez-Roncancio NL, González-Valencia DG. Percepción de dieta, hábitos de salud, agencia personal durante la COVID-19. Duazary. 2022; 19(2): 106-115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21676/2389783X.469

Buitrago-Gómez N, Zambrano-Urbano J, Muñoz-Realpe J, Ocampo-Chaparro JM, Hernández-Arango C, Lesmes-Duque MC, et al. Prevalencia y factores asociados con infección por COVID-19 en adultos mayores institucionalizados. Duazary. 2022; 19(2): 116-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21676/2389783X.4691

ELSEVIER. Novel Coronavirus Information Center; 2021 [acceso 11/01/2022]. Disponible en: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/coronavirus-information-center

SAGE Publishing. SAGE Waives Article Processing Charges for Research Related to COVID-19; 2021. Disponible en: https://n9.cl/jb8d5

Fraser N, Brierley L, Dey G, Polka JK, Pálfy M, Nanni F, Coates JA. The evolving role of preprints in the dissemination of COVID-19 research and their impact on the science communication landscape. PLoS biology. 2021;19(4):e3:000959. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000959

Sabra A, Bellanti JA, Colón AR. Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet. 1998;352(9123):234-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)77837-5

Retraction watch. When a journal retracts 107 papers for fake reviews, it pays a price; 2021. Disponible en: https://retractionwatch.com/2017/08/16/journal-retracts-107-papers-fake-reviews-pays-price/#more-51443

Downloads

Published

2023-03-23

How to Cite

1.
Pérez Anaya O, Matta-Camacho NE, Sarmiento-Salazar F, Duarte-Sánchez LC. Publication and retraction in the era of SARS-Cov-2 and COVID-19. Rev. cuba. inf. cienc. salud [Internet]. 2023 Mar. 23 [cited 2025 Jan. 30];34. Available from: https://acimed.sld.cu/index.php/acimed/article/view/2175

Issue

Vol. 34 (2023): Publicación continua

Section

Artículos Originales

License

Aquellos autores que tengan publicaciones con esta revista, aceptan los términos siguientes:

  1. Los autores conservarán sus derechos de autor y garantizarán a la revista el derecho de primera publicación de su obra, el cuál estará simultáneamente sujeto a la Licencia Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-NC 4.0) que permite a terceros compartir la obra siempre que se indique su autor y su primera publicación esta revista.
  2. Los autores podrán adoptar otros acuerdos de licencia no exclusiva de distribución de la versión de la obra publicada (p. ej.: depositarla en un repositorio institucional o publicarla en un volumen monográfico) siempre que se indique la publicación inicial en esta revista.
  3. Se permite y recomienda a los autores difundir su obra a través de Internet (p. ej.: en repositorios institucionales o en su página web) antes y durante el proceso de envío, lo cual puede producir intercambios interesantes y aumentar las citas de la obra publicada. (Véase El efecto del acceso abierto). En ese caso, solicitamos que en la cabecera del manuscrito se indique:"Esta es una versión preprint enviada a la Revista Cubana de Información en Ciencias de la Salud http://rcics.sld.cu/"

ENGLISH VERSION

AUTHORS WITH PUBLICATIONS IN THIS JOURNAL ACCEPT THE FOLLOWING TERMS:

  • Authors will retain their copyright and will grant the Journal the right of first publication of their work, which will also be subject to a Creative Commons  License Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) allowing third parties to share the work as long as the author's name and data about initial publication in this Journal are stated.
  • Authors may adopt other license agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published (e.g. deposit it in an institutional repository or publish it in a monographic volume), as long as initial publication in this Journal is indicated.
  • It is permitted and recommended for authors to disseminate their work on the Internet (e.g. in institutional repositories or their web page) before and during the submission process, which may result in interesting exchanges and increase the number of citations of the published work) (see The effect of open access).