Within Expert Trust
When Prestigious Journals Get It Wrong
The Surgisphere retractions show how respected journals can briefly amplify unreliable health claims before scrutiny catches up.
On this page
- How urgent publication raised the stakes
- Why peer review was not enough on its own
- How retractions can repair trust or feed suspicion
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Introduction
The Surgisphere episode became one of the clearest demonstrations of how a prestigious journal can briefly lend enormous authority to a health claim before the underlying evidence has been adequately tested. During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, studies based on a database supplied by the company Surgisphere appeared in two of the world’s most respected medical journals, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). The papers influenced clinical research, public debate and policy decisions before concerns about the underlying data led to retractions. [The Lancet]thelancet.comThe LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or…by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c…
For readers trying to understand myths and misconceptions in health, the lesson is not that journals are untrustworthy. Rather, it is that publication in a leading journal is an important signal, not a guarantee of truth. The Surgisphere case showed how quickly authority can be amplified in a crisis and why scientific claims remain provisional until independent scrutiny has had time to test them. [Science]science.orgScienceTwo elite medical journals retract coronavirus papers over…Jun 4, 2020 — The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine (NE…
How urgent publication raised the stakes
In May 2020, as governments and researchers urgently searched for COVID-19 treatments, The Lancet published a study claiming that hydroxychloroquine and related drug combinations were associated with increased mortality and heart complications in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. The analysis was said to draw on a massive international database covering tens of thousands of patients from hundreds of hospitals worldwide. [The Lancet]thelancet.comThe LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or…by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c…
The timing mattered. The world was desperate for evidence, and hydroxychloroquine had become one of the most controversial proposed COVID-19 treatments. Because the paper appeared in a leading journal and appeared to use an enormous dataset, it carried unusual influence. News organisations reported the findings widely, and international research efforts responded rapidly. The World Health Organization temporarily paused the hydroxychloroquine arm of its Solidarity trial while safety concerns were examined. [The Guardian]theguardian.comcovid 19 surgisphere who world health organization hydroxychloroquineThe GuardianSurgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19…3 Jun 2020 — On Wednesday, the NEJM and the Lancet published an expressi… [The Guardian]theguardian.comcovid 19 surgisphere who world health organization hydroxychloroquineThe GuardianSurgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19…3 Jun 2020 — On Wednesday, the NEJM and the Lancet published an expressi…
This is the danger of rushed journal authority. Under normal circumstances, scientific claims are tested over time through replication, criticism and competing analyses. During a public-health emergency, however, publication itself can trigger immediate action. The prestige of the journal becomes a shortcut for trust, and decisions may be made before the broader scientific community has had time to examine the evidence in depth. [The Lancet]thelancet.comThe LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or…by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c…
The problem was not merely that the findings later proved unreliable. It was that the institutional authority attached to publication magnified their impact before verification had caught up.
Why peer review was not enough on its own
The Surgisphere studies are often cited as evidence that peer review failed. The reality is more specific and more instructive.
Peer review is designed to evaluate whether a paper’s methods, analysis and conclusions appear reasonable based on the information available to reviewers. It is generally not a forensic audit of every underlying data point. In the Surgisphere case, the crucial weakness involved access to the underlying database. As outside researchers began examining the published papers, they noticed inconsistencies and questioned whether the company could realistically have assembled such a vast multinational dataset in the manner claimed. [NCBI]ncbi.nlm.nih.govNCBINews: The Surgisphere Scandal: What WentThe Scientist)Scientists have raised questions about the dataset published in The Lancet last week that triggered the suspension of clin… [tctmd.com]tctmd.comCOVID-19 Upset: Researchers Retract Lancet, NEJM…Jun 4, 2020 — The reason stems from an inability to access the raw data to validate t…
The concerns escalated rapidly. Independent reviewers sought to audit the data, but Surgisphere did not provide the full dataset needed for verification. Several authors eventually stated that they could no longer vouch for the primary data and requested retraction. Both The Lancet and NEJM withdrew the papers after it became clear that an independent audit could not be completed. [The Lancet]thelancet.comThe LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or…by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c… [New England]nejm.orgDisclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org.Read mo… Journal of Medicine
A common misconception is that publication means a study has been exhaustively checked by journals. The Surgisphere episode showed the limits of that assumption:
- Peer reviewers usually assess evidence presented by authors rather than independently recreating large proprietary databases.
- Extraordinary datasets can appear plausible on paper even when important questions remain unanswered.
- Journal prestige cannot substitute for transparency and independent verification.
- During emergencies, accelerated publication schedules may reduce the time available for broader scrutiny. [Medscape]medscape.comHow Did This Pass Peer Review?The COVID-19 Retractions15 Jun 2020 — Furthermore, the two retracted Surgisphere papers did not seem to include any such impossibilities… [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCPublishing coronavirology: Peering into peer(less?) reviewby T Pederson · 2020 · Cited by 4 — The Lancet study was observational, not…
The key lesson is not that peer review is useless. It is that peer review is one layer of quality control within a larger system that also depends on openness, replication and post-publication criticism.
How retractions can repair trust or feed suspicion
Once concerns became impossible to ignore, the journals issued expressions of concern and then retractions. From a scientific perspective, this was the system correcting itself. Retractions exist precisely because published research is not assumed to be infallible. When evidence cannot be verified, removing the paper from the scientific record is an important safeguard. [The Guardian]theguardian.comcovid 19 surgisphere who world health organization hydroxychloroquineThe GuardianSurgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19…3 Jun 2020 — On Wednesday, the NEJM and the Lancet published an expressi… [Retraction]retractionwatch.comlancet retracts controversial hydroxychloroquine studyLancet, NEJM retract controversial COVID-19 studies…Jun 4, 2020 — The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine have retracted th…
Yet retractions create a communication challenge. For many readers, the initial headline receives far more attention than the later correction. Research on the aftermath of the Surgisphere papers found that retracted studies continued to be cited after withdrawal, demonstrating how difficult it can be to fully erase the influence of a high-profile publication. [PMC]pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govPMCOngoing Citations of a Retracted Study InvolvingPMCby TC Lee · 2021 · Cited by 25 —… Surgisphere, a little-known company, were quickly retracted because of concerns about fraudulent… [tctmd.com]tctmd.comretracted over fraud concerns surgisphere acearb study still gets citedRetracted Over Fraud Concerns, Surgisphere ACE/ARB…Aug 3, 2021 — The study's data couldn't be verified, prompting the retraction, but…
This creates two competing interpretations:
A trust-building interpretation: the scientific process identified problems, investigated them and corrected the record. The retractions demonstrate that science contains mechanisms for self-correction. [The Lancet]thelancet.comThe LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or…by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c… [New England]nejm.orgDisclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org.Read mo… Journal of Medicine
A trust-damaging interpretation: some observers see the episode as proof that journals, experts or institutions cannot be trusted at all. That conclusion goes beyond the evidence. The papers were not exposed by abandoning scientific scrutiny; they were exposed through scientific scrutiny. Researchers, statisticians and journalists questioned the claims, demanded evidence and ultimately forced accountability. [The Guardian]theguardian.comcovid 19 surgisphere who world health organization hydroxychloroquineThe GuardianSurgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19…3 Jun 2020 — On Wednesday, the NEJM and the Lancet published an expressi… [NCBI]ncbi.nlm.nih.govNCBINews: Lancet, NEJM Retract SurgisphereThe Scientist)NEJM and The Lancet issue expressions of concern as researchers question where the company got its data on thousands of co…
The distinction matters when discussing health myths. A retraction is not evidence that “everything is unreliable”. It is evidence that scientific claims remain open to challenge, even when they appear in elite journals.
What the Surgisphere case teaches about authority
The lasting importance of Surgisphere lies less in the specific hydroxychloroquine debate and more in what it revealed about evidence and authority.
Many people assume a hierarchy in which a published paper automatically becomes established fact, and a paper in a prestigious journal becomes nearly unquestionable fact. The Surgisphere case showed that this shortcut can be dangerous. A claim should be judged not only by where it appears but also by whether the underlying evidence is transparent, reproducible and open to independent verification. [The Lancet]thelancet.comThe LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or…by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c…
For doctors, journalists and the public, the practical lesson is straightforward: respect journal authority, but do not confuse it with final authority. The strongest health conclusions emerge when multiple independent lines of evidence converge over time. Publication is an important step in that process, not the end of it. PMC [Nature]nature.comCoronapod: The Surgisphere scandal that rocked…12 Jun 2020 — The latest from the hydroxychloroquine saga, as a questionable dataset th…
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Endnotes
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Source: nejm.org
Link: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2021225Source snippet
Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org.Read mo...
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Source: nature.com
Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01790-ySource snippet
Coronapod: The Surgisphere scandal that rocked...12 Jun 2020 — The latest from the hydroxychloroquine saga, as a questionable dataset th...
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Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32450107/Source snippet
PubMedHydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a...by MR Mehra · Cited by 1979 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine w...
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Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Title: NCBINews: The Surgisphere Scandal: What Went
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/11590Source snippet
(The Scientist)Scientists have raised questions about the dataset published in The Lancet last week that triggered the suspension of clin...
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Source: tctmd.com
Link: https://www.tctmd.com/news/covid-19-upset-researchers-retract-lancet-nejm-papers-hydroxychloroquine-aceiarbsSource snippet
COVID-19 Upset: Researchers Retract Lancet, NEJM...Jun 4, 2020 — The reason stems from an inability to access the raw data to validate t...
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Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Title: NCBINews: Lancet, NEJM Retract Surgisphere
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/10099Source snippet
(The Scientist)NEJM and The Lancet issue expressions of concern as researchers question where the company got its data on thousands of co...
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Source: medscape.com
Title: How Did This Pass Peer Review?
Link: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/932262Source snippet
The COVID-19 Retractions15 Jun 2020 — Furthermore, the two retracted Surgisphere papers did not seem to include any such impossibilities...
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Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7436724/Source snippet
PMCPublishing coronavirology: Peering into peer(less?) reviewby T Pederson · 2020 · Cited by 4 — The Lancet study was observational, not...
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Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Title: PMCOngoing Citations of a Retracted Study Involving
Link: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8329789/Source snippet
PMCby TC Lee · 2021 · Cited by 25 —... Surgisphere, a little-known company, were quickly retracted because of concerns about fraudulent...
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Source: tctmd.com
Title: retracted over fraud concerns surgisphere acearb study still gets cited
Link: https://www.tctmd.com/news/retracted-over-fraud-concerns-surgisphere-acearb-study-still-gets-citedSource snippet
Retracted Over Fraud Concerns, Surgisphere ACE/ARB...Aug 3, 2021 — The study's data couldn't be verified, prompting the retraction, but...
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Source: nejm.org
Link: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007621Source snippet
Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in...by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1833 — Our study confirmed previous observations...
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Source: medscape.com
Link: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/953653Source snippet
Could the Surgisphere Retractions Debacle Happen Again?Jun 24, 2021 — In May 2020, two major scientific journals published and subsequent...
Published: May 2020
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Source: youtube.com
Title: The Ethics of Medical Publishing During a Pandemic
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_1Y8G0Z_sESource snippet
Science in the Age of COVID-19: Lessons from Retracted Papers...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Science in the Age of COVID-19: Lessons from Retracted Papers
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVp5t1V948cSource snippet
How to Evaluate Scientific Evidence During a Crisis...
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Source: thelancet.com
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2820%2931324-6/fulltextSource snippet
The LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or...by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1965 — RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or c...
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Source: science.org
Link: https://www.science.org/content/article/two-elite-medical-journals-retract-coronavirus-papers-over-data-integrity-questionsSource snippet
ScienceTwo elite medical journals retract coronavirus papers over...Jun 4, 2020 — The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine (NE...
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Source: thelancet.com
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736%2820%2931180-6/fulltextSource snippet
The LancetRETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or...by MR Mehra · Cited by 1965 — We did a multinational registry analysis...
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Source: theguardian.com
Title: covid 19 surgisphere who world health organization hydroxychloroquine
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/covid-19-surgisphere-who-world-health-organization-hydroxychloroquineSource snippet
The GuardianSurgisphere: governments and WHO changed Covid-19...3 Jun 2020 — On Wednesday, the NEJM and the Lancet published an expressi...
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Source: theguardian.com
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/10/surgisphere-sapan-desai-lancet-study-hydroxychloroquine-mass-audit-scientific-papersSource snippet
The GuardianSurgisphere: mass audit of papers linked to firm behind...10 Jun 2020 — The blockbuster Lancet study based on Surgisphere da...
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Source: thelancet.com
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500%2820%2930198-9/fulltextSource snippet
The case also brought into sharp focus...Read more...
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Source: thelancet.com
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736%2820%2931324-6/fulltextSource snippet
The LancetRetraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or...by MR Mehra · 2020 · Cited by 1960 — several concerns were raised with...
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Source: retractionwatch.com
Title: lancet retracts controversial hydroxychloroquine study
Link: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/06/04/lancet-retracts-controversial-hydroxychloroquine-study/Source snippet
Lancet, NEJM retract controversial COVID-19 studies...Jun 4, 2020 — The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine have retracted th...
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Source: science.org
Title: many scientists citing two scandalous covid 19 papers ignore their retractions
Link: https://www.science.org/content/article/many-scientists-citing-two-scandalous-covid-19-papers-ignore-their-retractionsSource snippet
Many scientists citing two scandalous COVID-19 papers...15 Jan 2021 — The 22 May 2020 Lancet paper ostensibly showed that hydroxychloroq...
Published: May 2020
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Source: theguardian.com
Title: covid 19 lancet retracts paper that halted hydroxychloroquine trials
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/04/covid-19-lancet-retracts-paper-that-halted-hydroxychloroquine-trialsSource snippet
Covid-19: Lancet retracts paper that halted...4 Jun 2020 — The Lancet paper that halted global trials of hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19...
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Source: retractionwatch.com
Link: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/07/10/a-month-after-surgisphere-paper-retraction-lancet-retracts-replaces-hydroxychloroquine-editorial/Source snippet
A month after Surgisphere paper retraction, Lancet...10 Jul 2020 — The core of the editorial is still valid, Funck-Brentano told Retract...
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Source: retractionwatch.com
Title: nejm places expression of concern on controversial study of drugs for covid 19
Link: https://retractionwatch.com/2020/06/02/nejm-places-expression-of-concern-on-controversial-study-of-drugs-for-covid-19/Source snippet
NEJM, Lancet place expressions of concern on...Jun 2, 2020 — As The Scientist reported last week, the criticism has drawn scrutiny for S...
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Source: science.org
Link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.371.6527.331Source snippet
Disgraced COVID-19 studies are still routinely citedby C Piller · 2021 · Cited by 39 — Journal mentions of studies based on disputed data...
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Source: science.org
Title: covid 19 data scandal prompts tweaks elite journal s review process
Link: https://www.science.org/content/article/covid-19-data-scandal-prompts-tweaks-elite-journal-s-review-processSource snippet
COVID-19 data scandal prompts tweaks to elite journal's...18 Sept 2020 — After publishing study based on unverified patient data from Su...
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Source: thelancet.com
Link: https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736%2820%2931180-6/abstractSource snippet
RETRACTED: Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or...by MR Mehra · Cited by 1964 — We did a multinational registry analysis of the use...
Additional References
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Source: depts.washington.edu
Link: https://depts.washington.edu/pandemicalliance/2020/06/04/retraction-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-with-or-without-a-macrolide-for-treatment-of-covid-19-a-multinational-registry-analysis/Source snippet
washington.eduRetraction: “Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or...4 Jun 2020 — Retraction: “Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with...
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Source: biospace.com
Link: https://www.biospace.com/doubts-continue-to-arise-over-covid-19-data-collected-by-surgisphere-that-halted-studiesSource snippet
UPDATE: Lancet Retracts Coronavirus Study Following...4 Jun 2020 — According to NPR, some of the study's authors retracted the paper aft...
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Source: transparency.org.uk
Link: https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/was-surgisphere-case-one-or-does-it-highlight-bigger-systemic-problem-research-fraudSource snippet
lsified data can have even after its redaction is the paper, also published in The Lancet, incorrectly linking...Read more...
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Source: healthjournalism.org
Title: hundreds of peer reviewed papers have cited a retracted study on covid 19
Link: https://healthjournalism.org/blog/2022/02/hundreds-of-peer-reviewed-papers-have-cited-a-retracted-study-on-covid-19/Source snippet
Hundreds of peer-reviewed papers have cited a retracted...21 Feb 2022 — Retraction of the other study published in The New England Journ...
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Source: the-hospitalist.org
Title: lancet nejm retract studies hydroxychloroquine covid 19
Link: https://www.the-hospitalist.org/hospitalist/article/223352/arrhythmias-ep/lancet-nejm-retract-studies-hydroxychloroquine-covid-19Source snippet
Lancet, NEJM retract studies on hydroxychloroquine for...Jun 4, 2020 — “Our independent peer reviewers informed us that Surgisphere woul...
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Source: cidrap.umn.edu
Title: authors retract controversial hydroxychloroquine study
Link: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/authors-retract-controversial-hydroxychloroquine-studySource snippet
retract controversial hydroxychloroquine study | CIDRAPJun 4, 2020 — In their retraction request published by The Lancet today, lead stud...
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Source: tropmedres.ac
Title: major medical journals retract covid 19 studies
Link: https://www.tropmedres.ac/news/major-medical-journals-retract-covid-19-studiesSource snippet
MORU Tropical Health NetworkMajor medical journals retract Covid-19 studies9 Jun 2020 — First The Lancet, then the New England Journal of...
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Source: reddit.com
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/h064nh/surgisphere_mass_audit_of_papers_linked_to_firm/Source snippet
in the current climate is shocking compared to the previous...Read more...
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Source: the-scientist.com
Title: the top retractions of 2020 68284
Link: https://www.the-scientist.com/the-top-retractions-of-2020-68284Source snippet
The Top Retractions of 2020 | The ScientistBoth The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine were forced to remove articles that re...
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS-mHOtXX84Source snippet
es about data collection and about retractions of big studies...
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