Retraction Watch
Retraction Watch is an independent blog and database dedicated to reporting on academic retractions and research integrity issues.
Timeline (last 90 days)
Retraction Watch co-founder Ivan Oransky likened publication pressure to kindling, paper mills to gasoline, and AI to an accelerant.
After a paper is retracted, the publisher issues a retraction notice, but this status is usually not automatically written into the paper's PDF or HTML body; instead, it exists as a separate record in Crossref, the Retraction Watch database, or the publisher's page.
For teams building research-oriented AI products, the recommendation is not to let the agent pick sources on its own, but to put retraction checks (using Crossref and Retraction Watch data) into the pipeline, executed before the model reads the content.
In 40 real retractions replayed from the Retraction Watch database, the "contaminate all downstream" rule lost 24 topic-level stances supported by multiple independent papers, while RETCON lost 0.
All Facts (4)
Retraction Watch co-founder Ivan Oransky likened publication pressure to kindling, paper mills to gasoline, and AI to an accelerant.
50%UnverifiedAfter a paper is retracted, the publisher issues a retraction notice, but this status is usually not automatically written into the paper's PDF or HTML body; instead, it exists as a separate record in Crossref, the Retraction Watch database, or the publisher's page.
50%UnverifiedFor teams building research-oriented AI products, the recommendation is not to let the agent pick sources on its own, but to put retraction checks (using Crossref and Retraction Watch data) into the pipeline, executed before the model reads the content.
50%UnverifiedIn 40 real retractions replayed from the Retraction Watch database, the "contaminate all downstream" rule lost 24 topic-level stances supported by multiple independent papers, while RETCON lost 0.
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