How to look up a retraction
Retraction notices are published by journals and are now collected in an open database run by Crossref with Retraction Watch data.
- Crossref announced on 12 September 2023 that it had acquired the Retraction Watch database and made it a public resource.1
- The dataset was released through the Crossref Labs API, and an October 2024 note on the announcement says the full dataset is available in a GitLab repository.1
- At the time of the deal Crossref said its own records held about 14,000 retractions and Retraction Watch about 43,000, around 50,000 combined.1
- Each Crossref record for a notice can carry an update-to field naming the DOI of the paper it retracts or corrects, with the source given as the publisher or Retraction Watch.2
- Always read the journal's own notice. ICMJE says notices should be labelled, indexed in the table of contents, and linked to and from the original article.3
Sources
- Crossref, News: Crossref and Retraction Watch (12 September 2023)
- Crossref, Retraction Note: Evidence of near-ambient superconductivity in a N-doped lutetium hydride, Crossref metadata example (27 October 2026)
- International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), Scientific misconduct, expressions of concern, and retraction