In 1998, Wakefield et al
1
published an astonishing observation in the Lancet. They reported an association between exposure to the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR)
vaccines and autism spectrum disorders. Although this report was published in the
“Early Report” section of the journal, it still echoed worldwide and stirred the pot
of vaccination avoidance. Even after its retraction, more than 2 decades later, it
carries tremendous influence. A quick literature search reveals that fraudulent scientific
manuscripts in the peer-reviewed literature are not as rare as one might think, and
the complex consequences of such occurrences span deep and wide.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children.Lancet. 1998; 351: 637-641
The retraction watch database. 2018. Available at: https://retractionwatch.com/the-retraction-watch-leaderboard/top-10-most-highly-cited-retracted-papers/. Accessed September 18, 2022.
- Quantifying the effect of Wakefield et al. (1998) on skepticism about MMR vaccine safety in the U.S.PLoS One. 2021; 16e0256395
- Wakefield and the Lancet: what can we learn?.Med J Aust. 2010; 193: 5-7
- Violation of research integrity principles occurs more often than we think.Reprod Biomed Online. 2022; 44: 207-209
- Plagiarism and data falsification are the most common reasons for retracted publications in obstetrics and gynaecology.BJOG. 2019; 126: 1134-1140
- Retracted articles in the obstetrics literature: lessons from the past to change the future.Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2020; 2100201
AJOG MFM.Author information. https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/retraction-guidelines-cope.pdf
Barbour V, Kleinert S, Wager E, Yentis S. Guidelines for retracting articles; 2009.
Wager E. Suspected fabricated data in a published manuscript; 2006. https://publicationethics.org/node/34626
Article info
Footnotes
The author reports no conflict of interest.
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