Intensive Care Medicine Retracts Letter Over Nonexistent References
Intensive Care Medicine retracted a December 2024 letter after editors found that 10 of its 15 references could not be located, including one cited as published in the same journal. Springer Nature added an editor's note on November 4 and the editor-in-chief formally retracted the letter on November 29 after concluding generative-AI formatting produced inaccurate citations. The case highlights verification and peer-review lapses flagged in January 2025.
Key Points
- 1Find ten nonexistent references among 15 citations in a 750-word December 2024 letter
- 2Demonstrate that LLM-assisted formatting produced fabricated citations, prompting editor concerns and retraction
- 3Require authors and editors to verify references and limit LLM use to copy-editing with human oversight
Scoring Rationale
High relevance and official journal retraction drive score, but limited novelty to broader AI research reduces breakthrough impact.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
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