“Zombie papers” keep on getting cited, with huge ripple effects

What do studies on omega-3 fatty acids, hydroxyethyl starch, and COVID-19 have in common? The resulting scientific papers were all retracted.

Nevertheless, they have all been cited countless times since then. As an eraser of mistakes in scientific publishing, retraction discredits the validity of a study’s claims due to flawed methodology, biased interpretation, or even fabrication of data. Unfortunately, it seems it is not so easy to erase a published study from the collective scientific consciousness. A retracted study should be a relic belonging to the virtual museum of past science – but like zombies of the scientific publishing world, they are kept alive by continued citations.

A study in Science analyzed the post-retraction citations of two COVID-19 papers originally published in The Lancet and in The New England Journal of Medicine. As both studies were linked to the same dubious database as the source of their raw data, their retractions were followed by a widespread media scandal.