“Still, it has been cited nearly 4,500 times, according to Clarivate’s Web of Science – making it by far the most-cited retracted paper ever.”
New Scientist raised questions about the data in 2007. Nature ran a correction that said the errors “do not alter the conclusions.” Elisabeth Bik flagged the image duplications in 2019, and Nature took 4.5 years more to retract. KU Leuven investigated and found “no breach of research integrity.” Twenty-two years of citations built on a paper the editors no longer trust.