A reference in your bibliography turning out to be retracted is more common than most researchers expect, and it happens on a predictable timeline: before you submit, after your paper is already published but before anyone notices, or after someone — a reviewer, an editor, a reader — flags it. What you should do depends entirely on which of those three situations you’re in. This guide gives you the decision flow and the exact steps for each branch.
Quick decision flow
| Your situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Manuscript not yet submitted, or still under review | Remove or replace the citation, or keep it only to discuss the retraction itself. This is a pre-submission fix — no correction process needed. |
| Paper already published; the retracted reference was peripheral (background context, not load-bearing for your findings) | Contact the journal to request a correction/erratum to the reference list. Your own conclusions stand. |
| Paper already published; the retracted reference’s data or claims were load-bearing for your own results or conclusions | Contact the journal immediately. Depending on severity this can require your own correction, expression of concern, or (rarely) retraction of your paper. |
| You just want to check a reference list before submission | Search each reference against PubMed’s retracted-publication filter and/or the Retraction Watch Database (see checklist below). |
Why this happens more than you’d think
Retractions have risen sharply over the last decade — The Scientist’s 2026 analysis of Retraction Watch Database data found retractions still represent under 1% of the literature overall, but paper-mill-driven mass retractions (Hindawi’s 2023 wave alone contributed heavily to a roughly 8,000-retraction year) mean a citation you added months or years ago can be retracted after you’ve already built on it. A paper can also sit in the literature, cited repeatedly, for years before an investigation concludes and a retraction notice is issued — so “I checked when I wrote it” doesn’t guarantee a reference stays clean by the time your own paper is in print. This is exactly the accountability gap covered in CASRAI’s guide to how preprint servers and journals handle misconduct and retraction differently, and it’s part of why citation hygiene has to be an ongoing check, not a one-time step.
What ICMJE actually requires of authors
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) puts this responsibility on the citing author directly, not just on journals and databases. Its manuscript-preparation recommendations state plainly: “Authors are responsible for checking that none of the references cite retracted articles except in the context of referring to the retraction.”
ICMJE’s own suggested method is to search PubMed using the publication-type filter Retracted publication[pt], or to consult PubMed’s dedicated list of retracted publications directly, before finalizing a reference list. This is a pre-submission check, not a post-publication remedy — it’s the single most effective step because it catches the problem before it’s in the permanent record at all.
Step-by-step: checking a reference list before you submit
- Run every reference through PubMed’s retraction filter. Search
Retracted publication[pt]combined with your reference’s title, author, or PMID, or browse PubMed’s retracted-publication list directly. This is ICMJE’s own recommended method. - Cross-check against the Retraction Watch Database. It indexes more retractions than any single publisher database and includes corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions not always immediately reflected in PubMed. See CASRAI’s guide to searching the Retraction Watch Database for field-by-field instructions.
- Check the DOI directly on the publisher’s site. Publishers participating in Crossref’s CrossMark service embed a status badge on the article page and PDF itself — a retracted article should be visibly watermarked “RETRACTED” across the abstract, full text, and PDF, per journal and ICMJE practice, with the retraction notice linked from the article page.
- Re-check just before final submission, not only when you first added the citation. A reference that was clean when you wrote the first draft can be retracted months later while your manuscript is still in revision. Build a final reference-list pass into your submission checklist.
- If a reference is retracted and central to your argument, don’t just swap the citation silently. Re-examine whether your own conclusion still holds without it. If it doesn’t, that’s a finding worth addressing directly in your manuscript, not papering over.
Your paper is already published and you find a retracted reference
This is the harder case, because you’re no longer editing a manuscript — you’re asking a journal to touch the published record. The right move depends on how load-bearing that citation was.
The citation was peripheral
If the retracted paper was cited for general background, related work, or context — and removing it changes nothing about your data, methods, or conclusions — contact the journal’s editorial office (not just the corresponding-author portal; email the editor or managing editor directly) and request a correction to the reference list. Most journals handle this as a straightforward corrigendum: a short published notice correcting the reference, with no implication about the validity of your own findings. See CASRAI’s guide on how correction and retraction notices are actually written for what that process looks like from the editorial side.
The citation was load-bearing
If the retracted paper supplied data, a method, or a claim your own conclusions actually depend on, this is materially more serious and the journal needs to know immediately, not after your own paper accumulates further citations built on the same flawed foundation. Depending on how central the dependency is, the editor may:
- Publish a correction if your conclusions are unaffected once the reference is removed or replaced;
- Issue an expression of concern while the implications are investigated, if it’s not yet clear whether your findings still hold;
- In rare cases, move toward retraction of your own paper if your central conclusion cannot stand without the retracted source.
This isn’t a punitive process aimed at you as the citing author — COPE’s retraction guidelines and ICMJE’s own recommendations both treat this as a normal, expected part of correcting the scholarly record, distinct from misconduct on your part. Being the one who flags it, rather than waiting for someone else to, is treated as good-faith diligence. For the general mechanics of how a retraction unfolds once initiated, see how a retraction actually happens and how long a retraction typically takes.
What NOT to do
- Don’t just quietly delete the reference in a revised proof or preprint update and say nothing. If the paper is already published under a DOI, silently editing it isn’t an option — the correction has to go through the journal.
- Don’t assume a retraction means the underlying data or method is automatically wrong. Papers are retracted for reasons ranging from data fabrication to honest error to duplicate publication to authorship disputes — the retraction notice itself will state the reason, and that reason matters for whether your own citation is actually affected. Read the notice, not just the “RETRACTED” watermark.
- Don’t cite a retracted paper for its findings even with a caveat, once you know. ICMJE’s own exception is narrow: you may reference a retracted article specifically to discuss the retraction (for example, in a paper about research integrity or paper mills), not to rely on its now-withdrawn findings.
- Don’t wait for a co-author or reviewer to catch it. If you find it first, flagging it yourself — to your co-authors, then to the journal — is the version of this that reflects well on you professionally. CASRAI’s guide on how a co-author’s retraction affects innocent collaborators covers the adjacent question of what happens to your own record when someone else’s paper you’re associated with is retracted — a related but distinct scenario from citing someone else’s retracted work.
How retracted articles are flagged in practice
You don’t have to rely on memory or luck to catch this. Several overlapping systems exist specifically to surface retraction status:
- PubMed labels retracted records with the publication type “Retracted Publication” and links to the retraction notice from the citation itself.
- Crossref‘s metadata schema includes a formal “retraction” update-type relationship between a DOI and its retraction notice, and participating publishers surface this via CrossMark, a service that lets a reader click a badge on the article page to see its current status and any corrections, retractions, or updates.
- The Retraction Watch Database, now maintained in partnership with Crossref, is the largest single structured index and the one CASRAI’s own database search guide covers in depth.
- Journal websites and PDFs should watermark a retracted article “RETRACTED” across the abstract, full text, and PDF per ICMJE and COPE guidance, with the original article and retraction notice linked in both directions.
None of these is complete on its own — PubMed’s coverage is limited to indexed biomedical literature, and not every publisher participates in CrossMark — which is why ICMJE’s own recommendation is to check more than one source rather than relying on a single database.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still cite a retracted paper at all?
Only to discuss the retraction itself — for example, in a paper about research misconduct, paper mills, or the retraction process. ICMJE’s guidance is explicit that authors are responsible for checking references don’t cite retracted articles “except in the context of referring to the retraction.” Relying on a retracted paper’s findings, even with a footnote acknowledging the retraction, isn’t the exception ICMJE means.
How do I know if a paper is retracted before I cite it?
Search it against PubMed’s Retracted publication[pt] filter and the Retraction Watch Database, and check the publisher’s own article page for a CrossMark badge or “RETRACTED” watermark. Do this as a final pass right before submission, not only when you first added the citation, since a reference can be retracted after you first read it.
What if I only find out after my paper is already published?
Contact the journal’s editorial office directly. If the retracted reference was peripheral, this is typically a straightforward correction to your reference list. If your own conclusions actually depended on the retracted paper’s data or claims, the journal will need to assess whether your paper needs a correction, an expression of concern, or in serious cases a retraction of its own.
Does citing a retracted paper count as research misconduct?
Not on its own, and especially not if you cited it before it was retracted or before the retraction was easy to find. Misconduct concerns arise if you continue relying on and citing a paper’s findings after you know it’s been retracted, or if you deliberately avoid checking. Proactively flagging a retracted reference you find in your own published work is treated as good-faith diligence, not an admission of wrongdoing.
Is there a tool that automatically flags retracted references?
There is no single universal tool that checks an entire reference list in one pass across every publisher. The practical approach is combining PubMed’s retraction filter, the Retraction Watch Database, and CrossMark badges on individual publisher pages — see the checklist above.
Last verified: August 16, 2026. ICMJE’s reference-checking recommendation is a stable, versioned guideline document — re-confirm wording if citing after a major ICMJE recommendations update.
