Retracting academic papers is a fundamental tool of quality control when the validity of papers or the integrity of authors is questioned post-publication. While retractions do not eliminate papers from the record, they have far-reaching consequences for retracted authors and their careers, serving as a visible and permanent signal of potential transgressions. Previous studies have highlighted the adverse effects of retractions on citation counts and coauthors' citations; however, the broader impacts beyond these have not been fully explored. We address this gap leveraging Retraction Watch, the most extensive data set on retractions and link it to Microsoft Academic Graph, a comprehensive data set of scientific publications and their citation networks, and Altmetric that monitors online attention to scientific output. Our investigation focuses on: 1) the likelihood of authors exiting scientific publishing following a retraction, and 2) the evolution of collaboration networks among authors who continue publishing after a retraction. Our empirical analysis reveals that retracted authors, particularly those with less experience, tend to leave scientific publishing in the aftermath of retraction, particularly if their retractions attract widespread attention. We also uncover that retracted authors who remain active in publishing maintain and establish more collaborations compared to their similar non-retracted counterparts. Nevertheless, retracted authors with less than a decade of publishing experience retain less senior, less productive and less impactful coauthors, and gain less senior coauthors post-retraction. Taken together, notwithstanding the indispensable role of retractions in upholding the integrity of the academic community, our findings shed light on the disproportionate impact that retractions impose on early-career authors.

翻译：撤稿是当论文有效性或作者诚信在发表后受到质疑时，维系质量控制的基本工具。尽管撤稿不会将论文从学术记录中完全清除，但会对被撤稿作者及其生涯产生深远影响，成为潜在学术不端行为可见且永久的警示信号。既往研究揭示了撤稿对引用次数及合著者引用的负面影响，但对此之外更广泛的影响尚未充分探索。我们利用撤稿观察（Retraction Watch）这一最全面的撤稿数据集，将其与微软学术图谱（Microsoft Academic Graph）——涵盖科学出版物及其引文网络的综合数据集，以及监测科学产出网络关注度的Altmetric平台进行关联分析。研究聚焦于：1）撤稿后作者退出科学出版领域的可能性，以及2）继续发表论文的作者其合作网络的演变规律。实证分析表明，被撤稿作者（尤其资历较浅者）在撤稿事件后更倾向于退出科学出版领域，特别是当撤稿引发广泛关注时。我们还发现，相较于未经历撤稿的同类作者，仍活跃于出版领域的被撤稿作者能维持并建立更多合作关系。然而，出版经验不足十年的被撤稿作者，其合著者中资深学者较少、学术产出与影响力较低，且撤稿后新增合著者中资深学者占比更少。综上，尽管撤稿在维护学术共同体诚信方面具有不可替代的作用，我们的研究揭示了撤稿对早期科研生涯作者造成的不成比例影响。