In their article Yulia Sevryugina and Ryan Jimenez discuss Chemistry manuscripts retracted during the 2001–2021 period (a total of 1292 journal articles retrieved from the Retraction Watch database). 58.5% of Chemistry manuscripts were retracted due to misconduct; of them, 40.5% of retractions were due to self-plagiarism and 36% due to fraud. Errors and concerns unrelated to misconduct constituted 26% of all retractions. Retracted manuscripts had a median retraction time of 1.7 years and peer-review time of 71 days (but only 43 days for fraudulent manuscripts).
The reliance of chemistry professionals on the peer-reviewed form of scholarly communication makes it imperative for authors to understand how to report their mistakes. Despite the general support for promoting the “heroic acts” of authors retracting their publications when a serious problem has been identified, the negative connotation of retractions makes authors reluctant to self-retract.
To help clear the scholarly record of peer-reviewed journals and databases from unidentified errors more promptly, it is important to promote and facilitate critical assessment and reporting on published misconduct. Inevitably, errors may occasionally penetrate the published scholarly literature, but a retraction shall not be considered a penalty but rather an act of repair, an intrinsic part of the research lifecycle.
