COVID-19 pandemic has created flood of potentially substandard research

Rush to publish is testing research integrity process.
33 papers retracted, withdrawn, or had serious doubts raised as of end of July.
Thousands of COVID papers on pre-print servers where fewer quality checks made.

As of 7 May 2020, 1221 studies on COVID-19 were registered on the international clinical trial registry site, ClinicalTrials.gov.

And as of 31 July 2020, 19 published articles and 14 preprints about COVID-19 have been retracted, withdrawn, or had serious doubts raised about the integrity of their data, formally known as an expression of concern.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a flood of potentially substandard research amid the rush to publish, with a string of papers retracted or under a cloud and a surge in submissions to pre-print servers where fewer quality checks are made, a leading ethicist has warned in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

Release date: 1 October 2020
Source: BMJ