Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A clinical case report is retracted after a journal's investigation finds the underlying data were fabricated; a formal retraction notice is published and the article is marked 'RETRACTED' across databases and platforms.
- Is an instance
A published dataset paper is issued in a redacted form after the authors realize a supplementary file inadvertently included patients' names and dates of birth; the paper itself is not withdrawn, but that file is replaced with a version showing the identifying fields removed, and a note documents what was redacted and why.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A correction (corrigendum) that fixes a typo, mislabeled figure axis, or minor calculation error without affecting the paper's conclusions -- this is neither a retraction (the work isn't withdrawn) nor a redaction (nothing sensitive is being removed); it is a distinct, smaller-scale correction.
- Not an instance
An expression of concern, where an editor flags unresolved doubts about a paper's reliability while an investigation is ongoing -- the paper is neither retracted (a final determination hasn't been made) nor redacted (no specific content has been removed).
Editorial commentary
Search interest in the phrase ‘retracted or redacted’ reflects a real point of confusion in scholarly publishing: the two terms describe different actions taken on different scopes of a published work, and mixing them up can misrepresent what actually happened to a piece of research.
Retraction: withdrawing the whole work
A retraction is the journal or publisher’s formal determination that an entire published article can no longer be relied upon. Per the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Retraction Guidelines, retraction is intended as a correction of the scientific record rather than a punishment: the article typically remains accessible (often watermarked ‘RETRACTED’ on the PDF and HTML version), a public retraction notice is linked to it explaining the reason, and — where the cause is honest error rather than misconduct — authors are exonerated rather than blamed. Retraction addresses the reliability of the work as a whole: the findings, the conclusions, or the integrity of the process that produced them.
Redaction: removing specific content, not the work
Redaction is a narrower, more surgical action: specific sensitive information within a document is removed or obscured, while the document itself continues to be published. Common reasons a publisher or author redacts content include:
- Personal data that was inadvertently included in a manuscript, dataset, or supplementary file (e.g., patient identifiers, participant names, contact details) — often triggered by data-protection obligations such as the GDPR.
- Export-controlled or classified information that cannot be freely disseminated under national security or export-control regimes.
- Legally sensitive material, such as content subject to an active legal dispute or third-party copyright the publisher isn’t cleared to distribute.
Crucially, redaction does not imply the underlying research is unreliable. The paper’s conclusions stand; only a defined piece of content has been withheld, usually with an explanatory note about what was removed and why.
Why the two get confused
Both actions are visible interventions made to an already-published work, both are typically accompanied by an explanatory notice, and both can appear in the same sentence in casual discussion of ‘problem papers.’ But they sit on different axes:
- Retraction asks: can this work, as a whole, still be trusted and cited as part of the literature? The answer, once retracted, is generally no — the article is flagged as unreliable, even though it usually remains visible for transparency and the historical record.
- Redaction asks: does this otherwise-valid work contain content that shouldn’t be public? The answer results in a modified but still-standing publication; the work’s validity is not in question.
They are also not mutually exclusive. A paper could be redacted (to remove inadvertently disclosed personal data) without ever being retracted, and a paper could later be separately retracted for an unrelated integrity issue after already having redacted content. Redaction never automatically triggers retraction, and retraction is not a mechanism for removing narrowly sensitive content — a retracted paper’s remaining, non-sensitive content is usually left intact and accessible precisely because the goal is a transparent record, not content removal.
Related distinctions
Retraction and redaction are also worth distinguishing from two adjacent editorial actions: a correction (corrigendum), which fixes a minor error without withdrawing the work or removing sensitive content, and an expression of concern, which flags unresolved doubts while an investigation is still underway — a holding action that precedes, but does not itself constitute, either a retraction or a redaction. See CASRAI’s guide on how a retraction actually happens for the editorial process retraction follows.
References
- COPE Retraction Guidelines (2019)
- Retraction Watch Database (ongoing)
Also known as
retracted vs redacted · retraction and redaction
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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