PERRLA/Guides/APA 7/Retracted article

How to Cite a Retracted Article in APA 7

An APA 7 reference for a retracted journal article is the article's normal reference (authors, year, title, journal, volume, issue, pages, and DOI) followed by a retraction note in parentheses: the words Retraction published, the year of the retraction notice, and the journal, volume, issue, and page where the notice appeared. The issue goes in square brackets inside the note. The in-text citation doesn't change: (Wakefield et al., 1998).

The format

Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxx (Retraction published Year, Journal Name, Volume[Issue], page)

PERRLA APA Experts · Updated October 21, 2026
Checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition. Every example is formatted by PERRLA's reference engine.

First, the easy way: PERRLA

Paste the article's DOI into PERRLA's reference search. When the publisher's DOI record lists a retraction, PERRLA recognizes it, picks the kind A single retracted article, fills in the retraction notice's volume, issue, and page, and shows a message that the article has been retracted, so you can decide whether you still want to cite it.

Then check a few things before you save. Delete the word RETRACTED from the start of the title if it came in with it: publishers add it to their records, but it isn't part of the article's title. In Retraction Date, keep only the year, and clear the notice's DOI from the retraction section: APA's note ends with the notice's page. Last, check the authors' initials and any article number against the article, and the notice's page or article number against the notice, since database records sometimes shorten, drop, or repeat them.

Adding one by hand? Choose Journal, then Journal article, then the kind A single retracted article. Fill in the original article's details first, then the Retraction Information section: the year in Retraction Date, then the volume, issue, and page or article number printed on the retraction notice. PERRLA writes the note, puts the issue in square brackets, and repeats the journal name for you.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same reference by hand.

The parts of the reference

1. The original article

Start with the full reference for the article as it was first published: every author (up to 20), the year in parentheses, the article title in sentence case, the journal name and volume in italics, the issue in parentheses, the page range or article number, and the DOI. It's built exactly like any journal article.

Hunter, J., Rawlings-Anderson, K., Lindsay, T., Bowden, T., & Aitken, L. M. (2018). Exploring student nurses' attitudes towards those who are obese and whether these attitudes change following a simulated activity. Nurse Education Today, 65, 225–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.03.013

Use the year the article came out, not the year it was retracted. If the publisher's page now shows the title with RETRACTED in front of it, leave that word out: it's a label, not part of the title.

2. Retraction published and the year

After the DOI, open a parenthesis and write Retraction published, then the year the retraction notice came out. APA uses the year only here, even when the notice shows a full date.

(Retraction published 2010,

Use the year of the issue the notice appears in. A notice posted online in December and printed in a January issue takes the January year.

3. Journal and volume

Next comes the journal that ran the notice, in italics, then a comma and the notice's volume number, also in italics. It's almost always the same journal as the article, but you still write its name again.

The Lancet, 375

4. Issue in square brackets

The notice's issue number goes right after the volume in square brackets, not parentheses, because the whole note is already inside parentheses. No space, no italics. If the journal has no issue numbers, leave this part out.

375[9713],

5. Page or article number

End with the page of the retraction notice (often a single page), then close the parenthesis. Journals that number articles instead of pages get the word Article and the number. There's no period after the closing parenthesis.

445)

120, Article 105668)

Examples

The Wakefield MMR article in The Lancet

The 1998 case series that set off the MMR vaccine scare, retracted by The Lancet in 2010. All 13 authors go in the reference. Ten of them had already retracted the paper's interpretation in a 2004 notice, but the 2010 notice retracted the whole article, so that's the one the note points to.

  • Parenthetical citation(Wakefield et al., 1998)
  • Narrative citationWakefield et al. (1998)

A retracted article with an article number

A 2020 New England Journal of Medicine study of COVID-19 patients, retracted by its own authors within weeks because they couldn't verify the data it was built on. The original has an article number (e102) instead of pages; the notice has a page.

  • Parenthetical citation(Mehra et al., 2020)
  • Narrative citationMehra et al. (2020)

A nursing education article retracted years later

A 2018 Nurse Education Today study, retracted in 2023. The journal doesn't use issue numbers, so neither the article nor the note has one, and the notice is numbered as Article 105668.

  • Parenthetical citation(Hunter et al., 2018, p. 227)
  • Narrative citationHunter et al. (2018, p. 227)

In-text citations

A retracted article is cited in the text like any other journal article: the author's last name and the year the article was published, not the year of the retraction. The note lives in the reference only.

  • One or two authors: the last name of each author, every time, joined by & inside parentheses and by and in your sentence
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al., starting with the first citation: (Wakefield et al., 1998) or Wakefield et al. (1998)
  • A quote: add the page: (Hunter et al., 2018, p. 227)

Make the retraction clear in your own sentence, too, since readers don't see the reference list while they read: The retracted study by Wakefield et al. (1998) claimed a link that later research did not find.

Citing the retraction notice itself, to explain why a paper was pulled? That's a separate reference with its own author and year. APA's example credits the Wakefield notice to The Editors of the Lancet (2010).

Common mistakes

  • Wakefield, A. J., … (1998). RETRACTED: Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children.Wakefield, A. J., … (1998). Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children.RETRACTED is a label the publisher added to its page and its records. The title is what the article carried when it was published. The retraction note at the end does the job of the label.
  • (Retraction published February 6, 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445)(Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445)APA's example gives only the year of the retraction, the same way a journal article's own date is the year only.
  • (Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375(9713), 445)(Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445)Parentheses inside parentheses become square brackets in APA. The issue number goes in brackets inside the note.
  • Wakefield, A. J., … The Lancet, 351(9103), 637–641. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0Wakefield, A. J., … The Lancet, 351(9103), 637–641. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0 (Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445)A generator that treats the paper as a regular journal article drops the note. Without it, your reader has no way to know the work was withdrawn.
  • (Wakefield et al., 2010)(Wakefield et al., 1998)The in-text citation uses the year the article was published. The retraction year appears only inside the note in the reference.
  • (Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445).(Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445)The reference ends with the closing parenthesis. Like a DOI, the note takes no period after it.

Quick checklist

  • The original article's full reference, built like any journal article
  • No RETRACTED label in the title
  • Retraction published and the year of the notice, year only
  • The notice's journal and volume in italics, issue in square brackets
  • The notice's page or article number, then a closing parenthesis with no period
  • In-text citation with the article's original year

Questions students ask

Can I cite a retracted article?

Yes, when the retraction is part of your point: a paper on research misconduct, vaccine hesitancy, or the history of a treatment may need to discuss the retracted work. Don't use a retracted article as evidence for a claim. If you aren't sure it belongs in your paper, ask your instructor.

How do I know if an article has been retracted?

Check the article's page on the publisher's site, which usually shows a retraction banner, and its PubMed record, which lists it as a Retracted Publication with a link to the notice. The Retraction Watch Database is another place to look. PERRLA's reference search shows a message when the DOI record it finds lists a retraction.

How do I cite the retraction notice instead of the article?

Treat the notice as its own journal article. Its author is whoever signed it (the editors, a group, or some of the authors), and its title is copied as the notice shows it, including the word Retraction. APA's own example credits the Wakefield notice to The Editors of the Lancet, with the notice's 2010 year, volume, issue, page, and DOI.

The article was retracted twice. Which notice do I use?

Use the notice that retracted the whole article. The Wakefield paper is the classic case: in 2004, 10 of its 13 authors retracted the paper's interpretation, and in 2010 The Lancet retracted the paper itself. The note points to the 2010 notice.

Do I include the retraction notice's DOI?

APA's model note stops at the page: the year, journal, volume, issue, and page of the notice. Your reader can find the notice from those details and from the article's own DOI, which already sits right before the note.

What if the article only has an expression of concern or a correction?

An expression of concern or a correction isn't a retraction, so there's no retraction note to add. Cite the article as a regular journal article, and if the concern matters to your argument, say so in your sentence.

Rules checked against the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.), Sections 8.17, 9.8, 9.25–9.27, 9.34–9.36, and 10.1, and the APA Style website's journal article reference examples (retracted journal article and retraction notice). Example sources verified against PubMed (each article's record and its RetractionIn links), Crossref's records for each article and retraction notice, and each DOI.

PERRLA spots the retraction from the article's DOI and writes the APA retraction note for you, square brackets and all.

Try PERRLA free for 7 days