Retratações e citações pós-retratação na infodemia de COVID-19: a Academia está espalhando desinformação?

Retractions and post-retraction citations in the COVID-19 infodemic: is Academia spreading misinformation?

SANTOS-D´AMORIM, Karen; MELO, Rinaldo Ribeiro de; SANTOS, Raimundo Nonato Macedo dos

Resumo: A velocidade da produção de informações e a pressa em publicar artigos científicos sobre a COVID-19 em diversas áreas do conhecimento resultaram no que se denomina infodemia também no campo científico, potencialmente produzindo informações imprecisas e fontes de desinformação na comunicação científica. Isso fez com que alguns artigos fossem retratados ou despublicados devido a erros não intencionais ou má conduta deliberada, mas eles continuam sendo citados. Este artigo (i) oferece uma visão geral dos artigos e preprints retratados no âmbito da pesquisa sobre COVID-19 e (ii) analisa um conjunto de citações pós-retratação no contexto da infodemia da COVID-19. Foram analisados 56 artigos e preprints retratados utilizando a lista disponível na seção “artigos sobre coronavírus retratados (COVID-19)” na página Retraction Watch (RW). Encontrou-se que 64,3% dessas retratações se referem a artigos publicados em periódicos, 33,9% foram carregadas em servidores de preprints e 1,8% artigos de conferência. Também foram analisados 162 artigos elegíveis dos 612 registros identificados usando o mecanismo de busca do Google Scholar. A pesquisa constatou que um artigo do The Lancet continuou a ser citado mesmo após a retratação. Nesse caso, foram identificadas 214 citações pós-retratação, sendo 38% negativas (n= 81), 32% neutras (n= 69) e 30% positivas (n= 64)

Palavras-chave: Infodemic.

Abstract: The speed in producing information and the rush to publish scientific articles on COVID-19 in several knowledge areas have resulted in what is known as an infodemic also in the scientific field, potentially producing inaccurate information and sources of misinformation at scholarly communication. This has led to some articles being retracted or withdrawn due to unintentional errors or deliberate misconduct, but they continue to be cited. This article (i) gives an overview of the COVID-19 retracted articles and preprints, and (ii) analyses a set of post-retraction citations in the context of the COVID-19 infodemic. We analyzed 56 retracted articles and preprints by using the list available in the section on “retracted coronavirus (COVID-19) papers” in the Retraction Watch (RW) webpage. We found that 64.3% of these retractions were articles published in journals, 33.9% were uploaded in preprints servers, and 1.8% conference papers. We also analyzed 162 eligible articles out of 612 records identified by using the Google Scholar search engine. This research found that an article from The Lancet continued to be cited even after being retracted. In this case, we identified 214 post-retraction citations, of which 38% were negative (n=81), 32% were neutral (n=69), and 30% were positive citations (n=64)

Keywords: Retracted Articles. Retracted Preprints. Misinformation. Post-retraction Citations.

Como citar
SANTOS-D´AMORIM, K.; MELO, R. R.; SANTOS, R. N. M. D. Retratações e citações pós-retratação na infodemia de covid-19: a academia está espalhando desinformação?. Liinc em revista, v. 17, 2021. DOI: 10.18617/liinc.v17i1.5593 Acesso em: 28 mar. 2023.

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