An audit and feedback intervention to reduce inappropriate citation of retracted literature in the pain and anaesthesiology fields

Retractions are common in pain and anaesthesiology research but often fail to reduce citation of untrustworthy studies. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors instructs authors to ensure that references of the articles they submit for publication do not cite retracted articles, however, few journals include this guidance in their article submission instructions. This pre-post study evaluated the effect of an audit and feedback intervention on the inclusion of retraction-checking guidance in the top 20 pain and top 20 anaesthesiology journals. At baseline audit, 3 journals included guidance on checking references for retracted studies. Twelve months after tailored feedback to editors-in-chief, 10 recommended checking for retractions and 8 provided guidance on how to identify them - an overall improvement of 17.5%. Changes in 3 journals were directly linked to the intervention. These findings suggest audit and feedback may help reduce citation of retracted literature.