The most highly cited paper, on predatory publishing, in the journal Scientometrics is a retracted paper.
The search criteria
Using Scopus and searching for “Predatory Publish*” in titles, abstracts and keywords and then looking at all the articles published by Scientometrics (a Springer journal), shows that this journal has published 14 papers on this topic. This puts it equal first with another journal (as at 21 Aug 2023).
The search results
The purpose of this article is to note that, of those 14 papers, the most highly cited paper is a paper that has been retracted (see Figure 1).
It has to be said that the retraction was controversial, and some of the citations relate to that discussion, but there are papers that cite the retracted paper in the “normal” way.
Questions
If a paper cites a retracted paper, should:
- The authors issue an erratum to remove this citation?
- The paper be retracted if it relies on the findings of the paper that it cites that has since been retracted?
A further question
If the two papers (the retracted paper and the one that cites it) are published in the same journal, should the editors/reviewers not have picked this up?
Perhaps it should have been picked up anyway, but when it is published in the same journal does it make it even more important that it was highlighted during the peer review process that a retracted papers was being cited?
Do you have a view?
Links to articles
You can see the retracted article here: dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192
You can see one of the articles, which is also published in Scientometrics, that cites the retracted article here: dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11192
We’d be interested in any thoughts you have.