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Concern noted: A descriptive study of editorial expressions of concern in PubMed and PubMed Central

View ORCID ProfileMelissa Vaught, View ORCID ProfileDiana C. Jordan, View ORCID ProfileHilda Bastian
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/106757
Melissa Vaught
PubMed Commons, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Diana C. Jordan
PubMed Commons, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Hilda Bastian
PubMed Commons, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Abstract

Background An editorial expression of concern (EEoC) is issued by editors or publishers to draw attention to potential problems in a publication, without itself constituting a retraction or correction.

Methods We searched PubMed, PubMed Central (PMC), and Google Scholar to identify EEoCs issued for publications in PubMed and PMC up to 22 August 2016. We also searched the archives of the Retraction Watch blog, some journal and publisher websites, and studies of EEoCs. In addition, we searched for retractions of EEoCs and affected articles in PubMed up to 8 December 2016. We analyzed overall historical trends, as well as reported reasons and subsequent editorial actions related to EEoCs issued between August 2014 and August 2016.

Results After screening 5,076 records, we identified 230 EEoCs that affect 300 publications indexed in PubMed, the earliest issued in 1985. Half of the primary EEoCs were issued between 2014 and 2016 (52%). We found evidence of some EEoCs that had been removed by the publisher without leaving a record and some were not submitted for PubMed or PMC indexing. A minority of publications affected by EEoCs had been retracted by early December 2016 (25%). For the subset of 92 EEoCs issued between August 2014 and August 2016, affecting 99 publications, the rate of retraction was similar (29%). The majority of EEoCs were issued because of concerns with validity of data, methods, or interpretation of the publication (68%), and 31% of cases remained open. Issues with images were raised in 40% of affected publications. Ongoing monitoring after the study identified another 17 EEoCs to year’s end in 2016, increasing the number of EEoCs to 247 and publications in PubMed known to be affected by EEoCs to 320 at the end of 2016.

Conclusions EEoCs have been rare publishing events in the biomedical literature, but their use has been increasing. Most have not led to retractions, and many remain unresolved. Lack of prominence and inconsistencies in management of EEoCs reduce the ability of these notices to alert the scientific community to potentially serious problems in publications. EEoCs will be made identifiable in PubMed in 2017.

Footnotes

  • Data availability: Additional files available at: https://osf.io/8xbqy/

  • Copyright: Authors’ contribution to the Work was done as part of the Authors’ official duties at the National Institutes of Health and is a Work of the United States Government. Therefore, copyright may not be established in the United States. 17 U.S.C. § 105.

  • List of abbreviations

    COPE
    Council on Publication Ethics
    CSE
    Council of Science Editors
    DOI
    Digital object identifier
    EEoC
    Editorial expression of concern
    ICMJE
    International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
    NCBI
    National Center for Biotechnology Information
    NLM
    U.S. National Library of Medicine
    PMC
    PubMed Central
    PMID
    PubMed identification number
    PRISMA
    Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
  • Copyright 
    The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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    Posted February 27, 2017.
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    Concern noted: A descriptive study of editorial expressions of concern in PubMed and PubMed Central
    Melissa Vaught, Diana C. Jordan, Hilda Bastian
    bioRxiv 106757; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/106757
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    Concern noted: A descriptive study of editorial expressions of concern in PubMed and PubMed Central
    Melissa Vaught, Diana C. Jordan, Hilda Bastian
    bioRxiv 106757; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/106757

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