“Zombie papers just won’t die. Retracted papers by notorious fraudster still cited years on” in Science covers Alison Avenell’s research on journal articles that cite retracted research, and the failure of journals to update the article to notify readers that cited works have been retracted. Avenell uses the research of the Japanese nutritionist researcher, Yoshihiro Sato, as a case study. Twenty-seven of Sato’s papers were retracted in 2015, and Sato’s flawed findings were cited in 88 papers published between 2003 and 2020. A year after Avenell contacted the authors, and some editors, of 86 of these papers, only 8 had posted notices or letters that they cited retracted research. Her study on retraction notices was consistent with findings from the 1990’s. While some authors using retracted research stated their findings were not altered by it, others were, and the implications for patient care were potentially serious. Furthermore, trust in scientific research is undermined when errors are not acknowledged. There are some encouraging indications that more citation databases are providing references when a work is included in Retraction Watch’s public database.
