Retraction: Guidance from the Committee of Publication Ethics Dr.Cynita Christy Dr.Mangala Hirwade Librarian Head of the Department Shri.Ramdeobaba College of Dept. of Library & Info.Sci Engineering & Management RTM, Nagpur University Nagpur

INTRODUCTION A retraction is a public statement made about an earlier statement that withdraws, cancels, refutes, or reverses the original statement or ceases and desists from publishing the original statement. The term retraction carries stronger connotation than the term correction. An alteration that changes the main point of the original statement is generally referred to as a retraction while an alteration that leaves the main point of a statement intact is usually referred to simply as a correction.

The retraction may be initiated by the editors of a journal, or by the author(s) of the papers (or their institution). (Retraction) Retraction is one of the most serious sanctions journals can take against authors in cases of misconduct, and can cause permanent damage to reputations and academic careers. Therefore, retractions should be handled carefully and journals should have processes for deciding when and how to retract articles

Definition of RETRACTION Retraction can be defined as “a statement saying that something you said or wrote at an earlier time is not true or correct” (Merriam-Webester). Retractions refer to an article in its entirety that is the result of a pervasive error, no reproducible research, scientific misconduct, or duplicate publication. (Council of Science editors)

PURPOSE OF RETRACTION Retraction is an mechanism for correcting serious flaws that undermine the reliability of the data or results, or research misconduct, such as: Fabrication Falsification Or Plagiarism. (Retraction policies of top scientific journals ranked by impact factor, 2015)

Form taken by Retraction Notices of retraction should mention the reasons and basis for the retraction, to distinguish cases of misconduct from those of honest error; they should also specify who is retracting the article. They should be published in all versions of the journal (i.e. print and/or electronic). It is helpful to include the authors and title of the retracted article in the retraction heading. Retracted articles should be clearly identified as such in all electronic sources (e.g. on the journal website and any bibliographic databases).

Editors are responsible for ensuring that retractions are labeled in such a way that they are identified by bibliographic databases (which should also include a link to the retracted article). The retraction should appear on all electronic searches for the retracted publication. Journals and publishers should ensure that retracted articles are clearly marked on their own websites. Retracted articles should not be removed from printed copies of the journal (e.g. in libraries) nor from electronic archives but their retracted status should be indicated as clearly as possible (Barbour, Yentis, & Kleinert, 2009)

Characteristics of Retraction Type of journal in which they were published. Number of authors. Funding source (any or no reported funding source). Type of study (clinical or basic science studies) and Date of publication (before or after 1991, the midpoint of the study period). (Nath & Marcus, 2006)

Committee of Publication Ethics It was established in 1997 by a small group of medical journal editors in the UK but now has over 9000 members worldwide from all academic fields. COPE provides advice to editors and publishers on all aspects of publication ethics and, in particular, how to handle cases of research and publication misconduct. It prescribes the editors on various issues related to retraction including when the article should be retracted; how the retraction notice should be framed; purpose of retraction; form of retraction; publica-tions to be retracted and authority with responsibility to issue the retraction notice. (Singh Balhara & Mishra, 2014) COPE’s primary means of offering advice to its members is via the quarterly COPE Forum meetings. (Wager, The Committee on Publication Ethics)

COPE’s retraction guidelines Journal editors should consider retracting a publication if: They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (eg, data fabrication) or honest error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error). The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification (ie, cases of redundant Publication). It constitutes plagiarism.

Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern if: they receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors. there is evidence that the findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case. they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive. an investigation is underway but a judgement will not be available for a considerable time Journal editors

Journal editors should consider issuing a correction if: a small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading (especially because of honest error) the author / contributor list is incorrect (i.e. a deserving author has been omitted or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included) Retractions are not usually appropriate if: a change of authorship is required but there is no reason to doubt the validity of the findings

Notices of retraction should: be linked to the retracted article wherever possible (i.e. in all electronic versions) clearly identify the retracted article (e.g. by including the title and authors in the retraction heading) be clearly identified as a retraction (i.e. distinct from other types of correction or comment) be published promptly to minimize harmful effects from misleading publications be freely available to all readers (i.e. not behind access barriers or available only to subscribers) state who is retracting the article state the reason(s) for retraction (to distinguish misconduct from honest error) avoid statements that are potentially defamatory or libellous

Need of Retraction Guidelines for Journals Journals do not always handle retractions consistently or appropriately. Journal editors and publishers should take responsibility for everything published in their journal. Therefore, if anything misleading, incorrect, or fraudulent is published, it is important that the record is corrected so that readers are not misled. Journals do not always handle retractions consistently or appropriately.

Fraud (fabrication/falsification) Scientific misconduct contributes to more retractions and researchers found that fabrication, falsification, and duplication led to more retractions than error or plagiarism. (Fraud Breeds Retraction). An article containing fabricated or falsified data (or involving plagiarism) may be read, cited and relied upon by many people, thereby propagating errors and inaccuracies. To prevent fraudulent work from corrupting the scientific literature, it is important to retract or correct articles affected by misconduct.

Plagiarism Plagiarism is the wrongful presentation of somebody else‘s work or idea as one’s own without adequately attributing it to the source. Plagiarism is perhaps the commonest ethical issue plaguing writing. Plagiarism is the most common cause of retractions. The authors found that the increase in plagiarism-related retractions rose after 2009, when plagiarism-detection software became more widely used. (Grens, 2015) An act of plagiarism can have several repercussions for the author, the journal in question and the publication house as a whole. Sometimes, strict disciplinary action is also taken against the plagiarist. (Das & Panjabi, 2011)

Duplicate publication Duplicate publication, multiple publications, or redundant publication refers to publishing the same intellectual material more than once, by the author or publisher. It does not refer to the unauthorized republication by someone else, which constitutes plagiarism, copyright violation, or both. (Duplicate publication).Duplicate and piecemeal publications dilute the scientific literature and should be avoided. Retracting articles after publication is one important way to safeguard the quality of the scientific literature in our fields of research. (William, 2015)authorpublisher plagiarismcopyright violation

Error An Erratum is a statement by the authors of the original paper that briefly describes any correction(s) resulting from errors or omissions. Any effects on the conclusions of the paper should be noted. The corrected article is not removed from the online journal, but notice of erratum is given. The Erratum is made freely available to all readers and is linked to the corrected article. (AIP's retraction and correction policies)

Conclusion We conclude that although retractions represent a small fraction of a percent of all publications in any given field in a year, this misconduct has been rising sharply in recent years. Therefore the editors should make some effective strategy by following the COPE guidelines to reduce such gross misconduct as it defile the image of scholarly research not only in scientific community but also in general public and tarnishes the ethical standards of scientific publications.

Thank You !!!