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. 2021;126(6):5181-5199.
doi: 10.1007/s11192-021-03962-7. Epub 2021 Apr 26.

Can tweets be used to detect problems early with scientific papers? A case study of three retracted COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 papers

Robin Haunschild  1 , Lutz Bornmann  2
Affiliations

Can tweets be used to detect problems early with scientific papers? A case study of three retracted COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 papers

Robin Haunschild et al. Scientometrics. 2021.

Abstract

Methodological mistakes, data errors, and scientific misconduct are considered prevalent problems in science that are often difficult to detect. In this study, we explore the potential of using data from Twitter for discovering problems with publications. In this case study, we analyzed tweet texts of three retracted publications about COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019)/SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) and their retraction notices. We did not find early warning signs in tweet texts regarding one publication, but we did find tweets that casted doubt on the validity of the two other publications shortly after their publication date. An extension of our current work might lead to an early warning system that makes the scientific community aware of problems with certain publications. Other sources, such as blogs or post-publication peer-review sites, could be included in such an early warning system. The methodology proposed in this case study should be validated using larger publication sets that also include a control group, i.e., publications that were not retracted.

Keywords: Altmetrics; COVID-19; Retracted papers; SARS-CoV-2; Scientometrics; Twitter.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Number (left panel) and percentage (right panel) of tweets mentioning any of the three publications or their retraction notices
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Twitter classification of users mentioning any of the three publications or their retraction notices in tweets
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Tweets per day that mentioned either the paper Bae et al., (2020a) or its retraction Bae et al., (2020b). The publication dates of the paper and the retraction notice are marked as gray vertical lines
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Word cloud from tweet texts based on the tweets mentioning Bae et al., (2020a) before publication date of the retraction
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Word cloud from tweet texts based on the tweets mentioning Bae et al., (2020a) or Bae et al., (2020b) since publication date of the retraction
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Tweets per day that mentioned either the paper Wang et al., (2020a) or its retraction Wang et al., (2020b). The publication dates of the paper and the retraction notice are marked as gray vertical lines
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Word cloud from tweet texts based on the tweets mentioning Wang et al., (2020a) before publication date of the retraction
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Word cloud from tweet texts based on the tweets mentioning Wang et al., (2020a) or Wang et al., (2020b) since publication date of the retraction
Fig. 9
Fig. 9
Tweets per day that mention either the paper Mehra et al., (2020a) or its retraction Mehra et al., (2020b) . The publication dates of the paper and the retraction notice are marked as gray vertical lines
Fig. 10
Fig. 10
Word cloud from tweet texts based on the tweets mentioning Mehra et al., (2020a), before the day before the publication date of the retraction
Fig. 11
Fig. 11
Word cloud from tweet texts based on the tweets mentioning Mehra et al., (2020a), or Mehra et al., (2020b) since the day before the publication date of the retraction
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Arkancideisreal. (2020a). Tweet. Retrieved 25 August 2020, from https://twitter.com/Arkancideisreal/status/1264667066813935616
    1. Arkancideisreal. (2020b). Tweet. Retrieved 25 August 2020, from https://twitter.com/Arkancideisreal/status/1264032084944814082?s=20
    1. Bae S, Kim M-C, Kim JY, Cha H-H, Lim JS, Jung J, Kim M-J, Oh DY, Lee M-K, Choi S-H, Sung M, Hong S-B, Chung J-W, Kim S-H. Notice of retraction: Effectiveness of surgical and cotton masks in blocking SARS-CoV-2. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2020;173(1):79. doi: 10.7326/L20-0745. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bae S, Kim M-C, Kim JY, Cha H-H, Lim JS, Jung J, Kim M-J, Oh DY, Lee M-K, Choi S-H, Sung M, Hong S-B, Chung J-W, Kim S-H. Effectiveness of surgical and cotton masks in blocking SARS–CoV-2: A controlled comparison in 4 patients. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2020;173(1):W22–W23. doi: 10.7326/M20-1342. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bar-Ilan, J., & Halevi, G. (2019). Retracted research articles from the RetractionWatch data base. Paper presented at the ISSI 2019—17th International Conference of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics, Rome, Italy.

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