Retracted Randomized Clinical Trials From Superretractors and Top-Cited Scientists With Multiple Retractions

How many retractions have authors with the most retractions (ie, superretractors) and top-cited authors with multiple retractions contributed to the retracted randomized clinical trial literature?In this cohort study of 367 authors and 1330 retracted randomized clinical trials, 6 superretractors, from anesthesiology as well as endocrinology and metabolism, coauthored one-fifth of all retracted trials, while 18 top-cited scientists with more than 10 retractions coauthored one-quarter of them. Articles coauthored by superretractors or by top-cited scientists with multiple retractions were published and retracted earlier, took longer to retract, and accumulated more citations.This study found that retracted randomized clinical trials were disproportionately associated with a small number of influential authors, often coauthors, and concentrated across few subfields of medicine.

Corresponding Author: Ioana Alina Cristea, PhD, Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35138, Padova, Italy (ioanaalina.cristea@unipd.it).

Link to the article in your story

We encourage you to link out to this article in your story using the link below. It includes an access token that will give free access to the article for your readers up to one year after publication. (The link will be live after the article publishes and embargo is lifted.)

Please see the article for additional information, including full author list, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.

Need more information? Contact us.