Propagation of errors in citation networks: a study involving the entire citation network of a widely cited paper published in, and later retracted from, the journal Nature.
| Autor: | van der Vet PE; 1Human Media Interaction Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522 NB the Netherlands.; 2ZGT Academy, Ziekenhuisgroep Twente, Zilvermeeuw 1, Almelo, 7609 PP the Netherlands., Nijveen H; 3Bioinformatics Laboratory, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, Wageningen, 6708 PB the Netherlands.; 4Wageningen Seed Lab, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, Wageningen, 6708 PB the Netherlands. |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Zdroj: | Research integrity and peer review [Res Integr Peer Rev] 2016 May 03; Vol. 1, pp. 3. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 May 03 (Print Publication: 2016). |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s41073-016-0008-5 |
| Abstrakt: | Background: In about one in 10,000 cases, a published article is retracted. This very often means that the results it reports are flawed. Several authors have voiced concerns about the presence of retracted research in the memory of science. In particular, a retracted result is propagated by citing it. In the published literature, many instances are given of retracted articles that are cited both before and after their retraction. Even worse is the possibility that these articles in turn are cited in such a way that the retracted result is propagated further. Methods: We have conducted a case study to find out how a retracted article is cited and whether retracted results are propagated through indirect citations. We have constructed the entire citation network for this case. Results: We show that directly citing articles is an important source of propagation of retracted research results. In contrast, in our case study, indirect citations do not contribute to the propagation of the retracted result. Conclusions: While admitting the limitations of a study involving a single case, we think there are reasons for the non-contribution of indirect citations that hold beyond our case study. |
| Databáze: | MEDLINE |
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