Why articles continue to be cited after they have been retracted: An audit of retraction notices

Background: Papers continue to be cited by authors even after they have been retracted. Retraction notices provide readers with information about retracted papers and may help minimise post-retraction citation. To date, a review of the quality of retraction notices in nursing science has not been reported. Design: An audit of retraction notices associated with 29 retracted manuscripts published in nursing science journals. Methods: Retraction notices were reviewed again using the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Results: In total, 28 retraction notices were retrieved and reviewed (one retracted paper did not have a retraction notice). Details of the retracted manuscripts were included in all reviewed notices and, in all but two, author names were reported. Details of the time between a paper being published and retracted were not reported and generally there was a little information in notices about how the retraction decisions were made. All retraction notices were freely available. Seven notices stated who had made the decision to retract. Twenty-two (77%) notices stated the reason for retraction. Notices were brief and contained factual information. The webpages of three retracted articles did not clearly indicate that the paper had been retracted. Conclusion: More detailed and informative retraction notices will inform readers and may help reduce post- retraction citation.