Flawed research not retracted fast enough to prevent spread of misinformation

Flawed research not retracted fast enough to prevent spread of misinformation, study finds. Could Twitter discourse function as a 'red flag' system for problematic research? Retracting academic papers does not dampen the reach of problematic research in online platforms as intended. Instead, research that is later retracted is often widely circulated online, both by news outlets and social media, and the cycle of attention that it receives typically dies away before the retraction even happens, according to research by the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has concerning implications for the spread of misinformation and public trust in science. Retracted papers included in the analysis, however, were often the subject of more critical discourse on Twitter before their retraction, suggesting that while Twitter should not be an official judge of science, with appropriate caveats, it's possible that it could provide early signals of dubious research, the researchers say. Retracted papers receive more attention than comparable nonretracted papers even before retraction. One possible reason is that retracted papers may contain sensational or novel findings, which could lead to increased attention, they say.