Q. How can I tell if an article has been retracted?

If you find a retracted article via QuickSearch, the citation includes a link with details about the retraction.

Larger version

If you follow the "Retracted Article" link, you can get details on why the article was retracted.

You can also search in Retraction Watch, which is the source of retraction notifications in QuickSearch.

What is retraction, anyway? Occasionally, articles in scholarly journals are retracted, or declared by the journal and/or author(s) to be unreliable because of error, fraud, ethical concerns, or some other factor that throws the article's conclusions into doubt. Sometimes, if an article is under investigation for possible retraction, or if there are problems with it that don't merit full retraction, you may see an "Expression of Concern" link to more information.