| name | check-retraction |
| description | Check whether a scholarly work has been retracted, corrected, or had an expression of concern raised (via Crossref + Retraction Watch). |
checkRetraction
Looks up the live retraction status of an identifier against Crossref's update relationships and the Retraction Watch database. The route resolves any supported identifier to a DOI first, then checks it. Returns retraction / correction / expression-of-concern flags plus the notice records.
When to use
- A user asks "is this paper still valid?" or "has this been retracted?"
- An agent is about to cite a paper in a clinical, legal, or academic context where retraction-awareness matters.
- A reviewer wants to flag retracted references in a manuscript.
Inputs
id (string, required) — one identifier per call: DOI, PMID, PMCID, arXiv ID, or ADS bibcode. Pass it verbatim (PMID: and similar prefixes are tolerated). Books/ISBNs have no DOI, so they return a "no DOI" result.
Outputs
{
"ok": true,
"doi": "10.1016/s0140-6736(97)11096-0",
"resolvedFrom": { "type": "pmid", "value": "9500320" },
"result": {
"isRetracted": true,
"hasCorrections": false,
"hasConcern": false,
"notices": [
{
"type": "retraction",
"label": "Retraction",
"doi": "...",
"date": "1998-03-06",
"source": "crossref"
}
],
"title": "..."
}
}
resolvedFrom is present only when the input was not already a DOI.- When no DOI can be found,
result is null and reason is one of no_doi / timeout / upstream.
Underlying surfaces
Example
curl -sS -X POST "https://scholar-sidekick.com/api/retraction-check" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"id":"10.1016/s0140-6736(97)11096-0"}'
See also
verifyCitation for fabrication detection (different concern — fake vs. retracted).checkOpenAccess for legal-copy lookup.
