Behind every set of bulk retractions are teams of trained individuals using specialized tools, carefully going through several steps of a standardized process in line with industry best practice, often in concert with multiple parties representing various institutions.
As Adya Misra (Research Integrity & Inclusion Manager at Sage Publications) tells " Sometimes the process of a bulk retraction is initiated when a specialist or an industry “sleuth” notices a dubious pattern, such as image manipulation, and comes to us with a list of problematic articles with evidence to indicate why we should take action. But this type of ‘package-wrapping-and-leaving on the doorstep’ is rare.
Instead, most of the time, a bulk retraction occurs when we notice something off with just one paper – a request to change the author list after acceptance, a peer reviewer contacts us to let us know that a paper was published despite their seeing a need for substantial revisions, etc. In those cases, we start with the dubious paper and keep pulling the string for as long as necessary.
But let’s keep in mind, the vast majority of scholarly research is conducted, reviewed, accepted, and published in good faith. And when retractions do occur, especially one-off retractions, they are often the result of error or oversight."
