Repeated article retraction notification: is this normal?

aborel
Hello,

for a few months now I've had this question that I never found the time to ask: every now and then (weekly or so), Zotero is warning me at start that one specific publication has been retracted. I don't think this repetition is the expected behavior, can anyone confirm? This annoyance is due to DOI 10.1038/s41586-023-05742-0 (which is definitely retracted, so it's just a minor nuisance, not a false warning).
  • dstillman
    Not normal, no. You should get notified once per item.

    Do you have other retracted items in your library, or just that one?

    We just updated retraction data. Can you let us know if you get the warning again in the next 24 hours?
  • dstillman
    Also, what's the timestamp on the retractions.json file in your Zotero profile directory?
  • aborel
    edited February 17, 2024
    I have just noticed one important detail: this apparently only happens on my computer at work, not on my home machine.
    At home, the article isn't listed as retracted at all. I have disabled all plugins in case one of them is interfering: no effect. That feels like a different problem, but maybe it's related? It doesn't facilitate the analysis, that much is clear :-(
    I think it's the only retracted paper in my library, but I will need to check on Monday to be sure.

    At home, retractions.json is 798487 bytes, modified Feb 17 08:42 CET (i.e. a few minutes ago). At work the file is 795682 bytes, modified Feb 16 16:40 (just before my original post).

    ETA: I just managed to get my retraction watch working on my home computer. Setting retractions.enabled to false and then back to true did the trick.
  • aborel
    No joy. The notification I'm seeing today is actually for another paper, in a group library (DOI 10.1126/science.aaw9068 in case it matters). The paper in my opening message is still not seen as retracted on my home machine. I think I will stop tinkering and get back to the issue when the weekend is over.
  • aborel
    edited February 20, 2024
    Strangely, I see that 10.1038/s41586-023-05742-0 is not marked as retracted in Zotero on my office machine today!?!
  • bwiernik
    That item doesn’t get marked as retracted when I add it to Zotero
  • aborel
    It is clearly listed as retracted by the publisher and by Retraction Watch.
    The observed behavior on my work machine feels like the result of correct information fed to Zotero every now and then, quickly overwritten by data that doesn't list the article... until correct data pops up again a few days later, only to be overwritten again soon after that.
  • dstillman
    Yes, that's exactly what was happening. Some of our servers were returning outdated retraction data, so if the daily check hit one of those servers, newly retracted items could show as not retracted and then reappear later.

    This should be fixed now. Your Zotero should get the current data within the next 24 hours, or you can toggle retractions.enabled off and on in the Config Editor to force it to update.
  • aborel
    Yes, it looks OK now. Thanks!
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