Retraction

A retraction is a journal's formal withdrawal of a published article, signaling that its findings should no longer be relied upon. Reasons include honest but fatal errors, data fabrication or falsification, plagiarism, fake peer review, and irreproducible results. Retracted papers usually remain online with a prominent notice, and databases exist that track retractions so readers can check a paper's status.

Citing a retracted paper as if it were valid evidence is a serious flaw in a thesis, and examiners increasingly check for it. Because retractions can occur years after publication, verify the status of your key sources late in the writing process, not only when you first read them. If a retracted work is genuinely relevant, for example as the subject of your analysis, cite it while explicitly acknowledging the retraction.