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A tale of three retractions: a call for standardized categorization and criteria in retraction statements

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Abstract

While psychology and other scientific fields may not always live up to the ideal of self-correction, retractions are one effective mechanism to address flawed entries in the scientific record once they have already been published. Despite their utility, retractions are steeped in stigma for authors, and information about the role of authors in the retraction process is not consistently reported in retraction statements. Based on examples across the variety of existing retraction statements across fields, we propose three categories of retractions based on authors’ roles, as well as suggested standard criteria for retraction statements to ensure they provide adequate information about the process, rationale, and interpretability of retractions while providing authors with a voice in this very challenging outcome for their work.

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Correspondence to James D. Ivory.

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Ivory, J.D., Elson, M. A tale of three retractions: a call for standardized categorization and criteria in retraction statements. Curr Psychol 43, 16023–16029 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05216-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-05216-6

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