How many retracted articles indexed in KoreaMed were cited one year after retraction notification

Purpose: It aimed to investigate how many retracted articles indexed in KoreaMed were cited in both the SCOPUS and the Korea Medical Citation Index (KoMCI) databases and to investigate whether the frequency of post-retraction citations was different according to the presence of a retraction mark. Furthermore, the chronological occurrence of post-retraction citations was counted. Methods: Retracted articles from the KoreaMed database were collected on January 28, 2016. Scopus and KoMCI were searched for post-retraction citations, which were defined as citations 1 year after the retraction, excluding retraction-related citations.  Results: The 114 retracted articles were found in KoreaMed. The proportion of retracted articles in KoreaMed, the Korean medical journal database, through January 2016 was 0.04% (114/256,000). On the journal homepage, a retraction mark was present for 49 of the 114 retracted articles. Of the 114 retracted articles, 45 were cited in Scopus 176 times. Of the 176 citations, 109 (of 36 retracted articles) were post-retraction citations. The number of citations in KoMCI, except for citations of retraction notices, was 33 (of 14 retracted articles). Of those citations, the number of post-retraction citations in KoMCI was 15 (of 8 retracted articles). The presence of a retraction mark did not influence post-retraction citations (P>0.05). Post-retraction citations were frequent in the range of 1 to 3 years. .  Conclusion: Post-retraction citations that were found in both SCOPUS and the Korea Medical Citation Index occurred frequently for retracted articles in KoreaMed. . Not only authors, but also editors, should check the present status of cited references during the submission and editorial process; furthermore, adoption of Crossmark is recommended as one choice to prevent post-retraction citations.