Over 500 COVID Studies Retracted For "Unreliable" Information
Retractions are driven by pressure to produce studies quickly, watchdog co-founder says
More than 500 studies on COVID-19 have been withdrawn due to “bias,” “unreliable” information, or unspecified reasons, a blog that tracks retracted documents, found.
Retraction Watch co-founder Ivan Oransky told The College Fix via phone interview one reason for the high number of retractions is the academic system’s incentive structure which pressures researchers to rapidly produce studies and get them peer reviewed as quickly as possible.
“Why do they feel the need to rush papers through? Well, it’s because that’s how they get or keep their jobs, that’s how they get grants, everything is based on that,” he said.
“When you know that your whole career depends on publishing papers in particular journals, you’re going to do what you have to do to publish those papers. Most of the time that means you work hard, you hire the smart grad students and postdocs,” he said.
Oransky also said researchers may feel “too desperate” or that “incentives are so stark” that there’s no “humanly possible way” to do it. “So you start engaging in misconduct,” he said.
The articles in the list pertain to risk factors related to COVID-19 vaccines and various alternative treatments for the disease.
“It’s really a range of everything from essays to big clinical trials,” he said.
Oransky pointed The Fix to one of his research letters examining the differences between retractions of COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related research papers.
The results showed that papers on COVID-19 had a higher likelihood of being retracted or withdrawn within the first six months of publication and that they were more likely removed “without detailed explanation or for non-misconduct-related concerns.”
He said retracting papers is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can correct information that was potentially wrong or misleading. Ensuring clear and concise reasoning for retractions is crucial, he told The Fix.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/over-500-covid-studies-retracted-for-unreliable-information-watchdog/