BMJ  2003;327:883-884 (18 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7420.883

Editorial

When to retract?

Reserve retraction for fraud and major error

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Today we are retracting a study that seemed to show that the outcome of pregnancy in diabetic women in northeast England was worse than that of diabetic women in Norway.1-3 The authors have realised that they made a fundamental mistake.2 Data collected in Norway were meant to exclude codes for gestational diabetes but didn't.2 The conclusions cannot be allowed to stand, and a subsequent analysis shows no significant difference in outcome between women in the two countries known to have diabetes before pregnancy.2 Studies are most commonly retracted because of fraud, but there is no question of misconduct in this case. It was a simple mistake, and as soon as the authors realised it they asked us to retract the study.2 But when should editors retract studies?

Retraction is topical following two recent high profile cases. Nature Medicine has just retracted a German study that described how three patients with . . . [Full text of this article]

Richard Smith, editor

BMJ


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Young, C., Godlee, F. (2007). Managing suspected research misconduct. BMJ 334: 378-379 [Full text]  
  • Laine, C., Mulrow, C., for the Editors, (2003). Peer Review: Integral to Science and Indispensable to Annals. ANN INTERN MED 139: 1038-1040 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Retraction of Press Releases
Carla Dionne
bmj.com, 17 Oct 2003 [Full text]
Retraction is not enough
Sayed S. Bukhari
bmj.com, 17 Oct 2003 [Full text]
A golden opporunity to retract also editorial mistakes
Saul N Malozowski
bmj.com, 18 Oct 2003 [Full text]
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