[Air-L] Fwd: 'Publish or perish' factor in spiralling retractions - Thomson Reuters analysis

[jeremy hunsinger]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Karen Weaver <melvil4u at GMAIL.COM>
> Date: August 21, 2009 7:23:28 PM EDT
> To: JESSE at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
> Subject: 'Publish or perish' factor in spiralling retractions -  
> Thomson Reuters analysis
> Reply-To: Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum <JESSE at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU>
>
> 'Publish or perish' factor in spiralling retractions
> Retractions up tenfold
>
> http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=407838&c=2
>
> 20 August 2009
>
> By Zoë Corbyn
>
> Excerpts from the full article linked above / best, kw
>
> ..."The rate at which scientific journal articles are being  
> retracted has increased roughly tenfold over the past two decades,  
> an exclusive analysis for Times Higher Education reveals." ...
> ..."Growth in research fraud as a result of greater pressure on  
> researchers to publish, improved detection and demands on editors to  
> take action have been raised as possible factors in the change." ...
> ..."The study, by the academic-data provider Thomson Reuters,  
> follows the retraction last month of a paper on the creation of  
> sperm from human embryonic stem cells." ...
>
>
> ..."The Thomson Reuters analysis charts the number of peer-reviewed  
> scientific-journal articles produced each year from 1990 and the  
> number of retractions."...
> "It shows that over nearly 20 years the number of articles produced  
> has doubled, but the number of retractions - still a small fraction  
> of the literature - has increased 20 times. This is equal to a  
> tenfold increase, factoring in the growth of articles."...
>
> ..."The data are extracted from the Thomson Reuters Web of Science  
> citation database, and apply to the journals covered by its Science  
> Citation Index Expanded."
> ..."Whereas in 1990, just five of the nearly 690,000 journal  
> articles that were produced worldwide were retracted, last year the  
> figure was 95 of the 1.4 million papers published." ...       Please  
> see COMPLETE article linked above / kw
>
> ------------------------------
> Karen Weaver, MLS, Adjunct Faculty, Cataloging & Classification, The  
> iSchool at Drexel University, College of Information Science &  
> Technology, Philadelphia PA email: karen.weaver at ischool.drexel.edu /  
> Electronic Resources Statistician, Duquesne University, Gumberg  
> Library, Pittsburgh PA email: weaverk at duq.edu
>