Retractions in Scopus: An Engineering Journal Articles Investigation

ABSTRACT

This study explores retracted journal articles in the engineering literature indexed in Scopus in order to determine how easy it is for non-expert users to identify retracted publications and interpret the reasons for retractions. The authors also analyzed citations both pre- and post-retraction to compare the methods Scopus uses to alert readers to the retracted status of an article. The results show that the current practice is inconsistent and the methods Scopus uses for indicating retraction status are equally inefficient in preventing the accumulation of post-retraction citations. Engineering librarians can use these results to educate engineering students and researchers on retraction-related topics and scholarly communication practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Citation analysis
• engineering
• misconduct
• publication ethics
• retraction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/0194262X.2022.2098892.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.