New insights into scientific knowledge production and dissemination: studying preprint withdrawals

Preprints – manuscripts shared publicly before undergoing peer review in a journal – have become a crucial part of scientific communication. Their significance was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the rapid dissemination of research findings was essential. However, this increased reliance on preprints has highlighted the need to address the associated challenges. One significant challenge is maintaining the integrity of the scientific record through retractions. In the context of scholarly publishing, retraction refers to the formal withdrawal of a published article due to significant issues such as errors or misconduct.

While the process for retracting journal articles is well studied and documented, preprint retractions have received much less attention, resulting in a notable gap in research and standards for their management. This proposal aims to address this gap by investigating the retraction practices within the preprint ecosystem. Such an investigation will enhance our understanding of the process, contribute to improved ethical standards in preprint management, and eventually maintain integrity and credibility in scientific research.

The study will employ both quantitative and qualitative methods. We will collect data on over 7,000 withdrawn preprints from arXiv, including the full text of withdrawal comments and detailed metadata. The research involves several tasks: summarizing and identifying main themes in withdrawal comments through computational text analysis, conducting a detailed qualitative examination of selected cases, and exploring disciplinary differences statistically. Additionally, we will compare the reasons for preprint withdrawals with those for journal article retractions to highlight any unique issues at these different stages of scientific publishing.

By comparing reasons for preprint retractions with those for journal article retractions, the project aims to identify distinctive challenges associated with the preprint stage of publication. The analysis of withdrawal comments will also provide insights into the process of scientific knowledge production and dissemination that are not available from other sources.

The project results will contribute to the advancement of scholarly communication, and more broadly, to the field of science studies. The results have the potential to influence the field of research ethics and integrity. By providing detailed insights into the reasons for preprint withdrawals, the project can inform guidelines and best practices for managing preprints, thereby ensuring that ethical standards are upheld at this early stage of knowledge dissemination. Furthermore, the findings may result in recommendations for enhancing transparency and communication surrounding retracted preprints, thus enhancing the overall credibility of scientific research.