Dinis-Oliveira, R. J. (2020). COVID-19 research: pandemic versus “paperdemic”, integrity, values and risks of the “speed science”. Forensic Sciences Research, 1-14.


University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Alternative technologies and platforms have been utilized to help researchers navigate and validate literature during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples include: 1. Rapid PREreview (outbreaksci.prereview.org), an open preprint peer-review platform. 2. PubPeer journal club (pubpeer.com). 3. Active Twitter-based journal clubs. 4. Retraction Watch (retractionwatch.com), which tracks retracted papers and highlights the problem of continued citation of retracted work.

Alternative technologies to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic

Johansson, M. A., & Saderi, D. (2020). Open peer-review platform for COVID-19 preprints. Nature, 579(7797), 29-29. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00613-4

Open peer-review platform for COVID-19 preprints

Langham-Putrow, A., & Riegelman, A. (2019). Discovery and scholarly communication aspects of preprints: Sources for online information. College & Research Libraries News, 80(9), 506

Discovery and scholarly communication aspects of preprints.

1. How it works
2. Problems of  Twitter-based Journal Clubs

Twitter-based Journal Clubs

Citation number of a paper is not reliable

Even after scientific papers are officially retracted, they often continue to be cited by other researchers, propagating potentially invalid findings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, platforms tracking retractions noted that 30 retracted papers were cited over 1,400 times, costing an estimated US\$425,000 per article. A specific instance of this phenomenon involves the paper "Modeling the viral dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection," which continued to circulate and be referenced despite its initial retraction in July 2020.

Post-Retraction Citations of COVID-19 Papers

Retraction Watch (retractionwatch.com) is a platform and database that tracks retracted scientific papers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it served as a tool to help researchers navigate and validate literature by identifying withdrawn or problematic studies.

Retraction Watch

PubPeer journal club (pubpeer.com) is one of the alternative platforms researchers used to navigate and validate literature during the COVID-19 pandemic, as named in the parent node 'Alternative technologies to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.'

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