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Retraction guidelines

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Retraction guidelines

Guidance for editors on retracting articles: when should a retraction be considered, what to include in a notice, who should issue a retraction and how quickly, what to do when there is inconclusive evidence, and how to deal with batch retractions where many articles are affected by the same issue.

Post-publication review
Cite this as:
COPE Council. COPE Guidelines: Retraction Guidelines. August 2025.

ÂĐ 2025 Committee on Publication Ethics (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) https://publicationethics.org

COPE guideline

This guideline has advice on how to

This guideline has advice on:

When to retract an article and what to include in a retraction notice.
How quickly and who should issue the retraction.
How to handle batch retractions of many articles affected by the same issue.

Key points

The purpose of retraction is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity, not to punish the authors.
Editors can decide to retract a publication if they no longer have confidence in the results and conclusions reported in the paper.
Retraction might be warranted if there is clear evidence of major errors, irregularities in the data or images, or any form of misrepresentation (eg, fraud, identity theft or fictitious authorship) that compromise the reliability of the findings.
Publications should be considered for retraction if the findings have been published elsewhere without proper attribution, permission, or justification, or material or data have been used without proper authorisation.
Retractions might be necessary for unethical research practices, compromised peer review, or undisclosed conflicts of interest that could bias interpretation of the work or recommendations by peer reviewers.
Notices of retraction should link to the retracted article, clearly identify it with title and authors, and be published promptly and be freely accessible to all readers.
Batch retractions might be needed when there is evidence of systematic manipulation of the publication process in one or more journals (eg, paper mills).

Guidance preview

The purpose of retraction

Retraction is a mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to articles that have such seriously flawed or erroneous content or data that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon. Unreliable content or data can result from honest error, naive mistakes, or research or publication misconduct. The purpose of retraction is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity, not to punish the authors.

When retraction is not appropriate

If an editor is uncertain about the reliability of a publication because of insufficient information, delays, or inability to obtain information, for example, retraction might not be appropriate. In this situation, and if warranted, an editor could consider publishing an expression of concern.

Who should issue the retraction?

Publishers can support editors in investigations, make recommendations about how to handle cases, and jointly issue retraction notices. However, because the editor is responsible for the journal’s content, they should always make the final decision about retracting material, except in instances where the editor is compromised or has a conflict of interest. This approach is consistent with the principle of editorial independence and limits the possible influence of business or economic interests on editorial decision making.

Importance of timely handling of retractions

To minimise harmful effects and uptake (eg, citation of erroneous work, acting on their findings, or drawing incorrect conclusions), retraction notices should be published as soon as the editor is confident that the publication is seriously flawed, misleading, or falls into any of the categories described above. If there is a delay in making that determination, editors should publish an expression of concern.

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Further information

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ÂĐ Committee on Publication Ethics 2026