PERRLA/Guides/MLA 9/Retracted article

How to Cite a Retracted Article in MLA 9

An MLA 9 Works Cited entry for a retracted journal article is the article's usual entry (author, article title in quotation marks, journal name in italics, vol., no., date, pages, and DOI), followed by a closing note: Retracted in, then the retraction notice's volume, issue, date, and page. The in-text citation doesn't change: the first author's last name, et al. for three or more authors, and the page: (Wakefield et al. 637).

The format

Last Name, First Name, et al. "Title of the Article." Journal Name, vol. #, no. #, Day Mon. Year, pp. #–#, https://doi.org/xxxx. Retracted in vol. #, no. #, Day Mon. Year, p. #.

PERRLA MLA Experts · Updated October 27, 2026
Checked against the MLA Handbook, 9th 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 When the publisher's DOI record lists a retraction, PERRLA recognizes it, picks the kind A single retracted article, fills in the retraction notice's details, and shows a message that the article has been retracted, so you can decide whether you still want to cite it.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. Check the authors' names against the article: initials can come in without their periods (A J for A. J.). The search brings in only the year for the article and for the notice, so add the month and day from each one (this Lancet article is dated 28 Feb. 1998, and its notice 6 Feb. 2010). And check the notice's volume, issue, and page against the notice itself.

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 Choose Journal, then Journal article, then the kind A single retracted article.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 notice's date in Retraction Date, then its volume, issue, and page. PERRLA adds Retracted in and the notice's details at the end of the entry.

Not using PERRLA yet? Here is how to build the same works cited entry by hand.

The parts of the works cited entry

1. The original article

Start with the article's usual entry, built exactly like any journal article: the first author inverted (et al. for three or more), the title in quotation marks and title case, the journal in italics, vol., no., the date, pp., and the DOI, ending with a period.

Hunter, Janet, et al. "Exploring Student Nurses' Attitudes towards Those Who Are Obese and Whether These Attitudes Change Following a Simulated Activity." Nurse Education Today, vol. 65, June 2018, pp. 225–31, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2018.03.013.

Use the date the article came out, not the date 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 the publisher added later, not part of the title.

2. Retracted in

After the DOI, start a new sentence with Retracted in. MLA hasn't published a set wording for retractions, but the Handbook lets you add a fact about a source as a supplemental element at the end of the entry, and the retraction is that fact.

Retracted in

The notice almost always runs in the same journal as the article, so the note doesn't repeat the journal's name.

3. The notice's volume and issue

Next come the notice's own volume and issue, labeled vol. and no. the same way as in the rest of the entry, each followed by a comma. If the journal has no issue numbers, leave no. out.

vol. 375, no. 9713,

4. The notice's date

Give the notice's date as fully as the journal gives it, day, month, year, with the long months abbreviated.

6 Feb. 2010,

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

5. The notice's page

End with p. and the notice's page (it's usually a single page), then a period.

p. 445.

If the notice has an article number instead of a page, give the word article and the number in the page's place, the same way the article itself would.

Retracted in vol. 120, Jan. 2023, article 105668.

Examples

The Wakefield MMR article in The Lancet

The 1998 case series that set off the MMR vaccine scare, published in The Lancet's February 28, 1998, issue and retracted in a notice in its February 6, 2010, issue. The article prints its authors' names as initials, so the entry does too. Ten of the 13 authors had already retracted the paper's interpretation in 2004, but the 2010 notice retracted the whole article, so that's the one the note points to.

  • In-text citation(Wakefield et al. 637)
  • Narrative citationWakefield et al. claimed that … (637).

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 article is numbered e102 instead of having pages, and the notice ran on page 2582 a week later.

  • In-text citation(Mehra et al.)
  • Narrative citationMehra et al. reported that …

A nursing education article retracted years later

A 2018 Nurse Education Today study, retracted in a notice in the journal's January 2023 volume. The journal doesn't use issue numbers, so neither the entry nor the note has no., and the notice is numbered 105668 instead of having a page.

  • In-text citation(Hunter et al. 227)
  • Narrative citationAs Hunter et al. describe, … (227).

In-text citations

A retracted article is cited in the text like any other journal article: the first author's last name and the page, with no comma between them. The retraction note lives in the Works Cited entry only.

  • One author: the last name and the page
  • Two authors: both last names joined by and
  • Three or more authors: the first author and et al.: (Wakefield et al. 637)
  • No page numbers: the name alone: (Mehra et al.)
  • Name in your sentence: give the page alone in parentheses at the end of the sentence: Hunter et al. describe a simulated activity (227).

Make the retraction clear in your own sentence, too, since readers don't see the Works Cited page while they read: The retracted study by Wakefield et al. 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 entry, with the notice's own author (often the editors) and title.

Common mistakes

  • Wakefield, A. J., et al. "RETRACTED: Ileal-Lymphoid-Nodular Hyperplasia, Non-Specific Colitis, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder in Children."Wakefield, A. J., et al. "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 later. The title is what the article carried when it was published, and the note at the end does the label's job.
  • Wakefield, A. J., et al. … The Lancet, vol. 351, no. 9103, 28 Feb. 1998, pp. 637–41, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0.Wakefield, A. J., et al. … The Lancet, vol. 351, no. 9103, 28 Feb. 1998, pp. 637–41, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(97)11096-0. Retracted in vol. 375, no. 9713, 6 Feb. 2010, p. 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.
  • (Retraction published 2010, The Lancet, 375[9713], 445)Retracted in vol. 375, no. 9713, 6 Feb. 2010, p. 445.That's APA's retraction note. In MLA, the note uses the same labels and order as the rest of the entry: vol., no., the date, and p.
  • The Lancet, vol. 351, no. 9103, 6 Feb. 2010, pp. 637–41The Lancet, vol. 351, no. 9103, 28 Feb. 1998, pp. 637–41The article's own date is when it was published. The retraction's date goes only in the note at the end.
  • (Wakefield et al., 1998, p. 637)(Wakefield et al. 637)That's APA's form. MLA in-text citations give the name and the page, with no year, no comma, and no p.

Quick checklist

  • The article's usual entry, built like any journal article
  • No RETRACTED label in the title
  • The article's own date, not the retraction's
  • Retracted in, then the notice's vol., no., and date
  • The notice's page (or article number), then a period
  • In-text citation with the name and page, as usual

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.

Does MLA have a rule for retracted articles?

Not a set wording. The MLA Handbook (9th ed.) lets you add a fact about a source as a supplemental element at the end of the entry, and a retraction is exactly that kind of fact. Adding Retracted in and the notice's details tells your reader the work was withdrawn and where to find the notice.

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.

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 use the authors' full first names for the Wakefield article?

Use the names the way the article prints them. The Lancet printed this byline with initials only, so the entry starts Wakefield, A. J. For an article that prints full first names, like the New England Journal of Medicine study above, spell them out.

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 Retracted in 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 MLA Handbook (9th ed.), chapters 5 and 6 (the core elements, supplemental elements, and in-text citations), and the MLA Style Center's pages on supplemental elements (including its cross-published article answer, which adds a closing supplemental element about another publication). Neither the Handbook's examples nor the Style Center gives a set wording for retractions. Example sources are the ones verified for the APA 7 page, rechecked on October 27, 2026, against PubMed (PMIDs 9500320, 32356626, and 29604606, with their Retraction in links) and Crossref.

PERRLA spots the retraction from the article's DOI and adds the retraction note to the end of the Works Cited entry for you.

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