Dead Paper
The autopsy report science doesn't want you to read — tracking every retracted study, every zombie citation, every paper mill, with data and attitude.
Consumer-facing research integrity intelligence — automated retraction tracking, journal accountability scorecards, zombie paper detection (retracted studies still being cited), paper mill exposés, and field-by-field integrity dashboards, all powered by free scholarly APIs and delivered as beautiful, opinionated data journalism.
Niche Explored
Scientific paper retractions, research fraud, paper mills, and “zombie papers” — consumer-facing intelligence that tracks the integrity crisis in academic publishing and its real-world impact on healthcare, policy, and public trust.
Existing Competition
Retraction Watch (retractionwatch.com)
- The incumbent. Founded 2010 by Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus.
- Blog format with human-written articles. Weekly Substack newsletter.
- 7.5M pageviews in 2024 (record year), 6.6M in 2025.
- Retraction Watch Database: 63,000+ retractions catalogued, hosted by Crossref.
- Gaps: No data visualizations. No automated dashboards. No field-by-field scorecards. No journal/publisher accountability rankings. Blog format makes it hard to explore data systematically. Content is excellent but irregularly formatted and not machine-friendly for consumers.
For Better Science (forbetterscience.com)
- Leonid Schneider’s blog. Investigative focus on individual fraud cases.
- Deep reporting, highly opinionated. European focus.
- No data infrastructure, no dashboards.
PubPeer (pubpeer.com)
- Anonymous post-publication peer review platform.
- Community flags problematic papers.
- Not consumer-facing — designed for scientists.
Journalology Newsletter
- Substack by researchers about publishing integrity.
- Small audience, industry/insider focus.
SCiNiTO
- AI platform for research integrity.
- B2B focus — institutional clients, not consumers.
CLEAR COMPETITIVE GAP:
Nobody is doing automated, data-driven, visually beautiful dashboard journalism about retractions. Retraction Watch is a blog (manual, editorial). PubPeer is a forum. No one has built the “538/Politico of research integrity” — a site with live dashboards, field scorecards, journal accountability grades, and zombie paper tracking with beautiful charts and maps.
Data Sources Found
1. Crossref Retraction Watch Database
- URL: https://api.labs.crossref.org/data/retractionwatch
- Also: CSV download from GitLab: https://gitlab.com/crossref/retraction-watch-data
- Free tier: Completely free, open access
- Data: 63,000+ retracted papers with reasons, dates, authors, journals, subjects
- Format: CSV and API (JSON)
- Update frequency: Regular updates as new retractions catalogued
2. Crossref REST API
- URL: https://api.crossref.org/
- Free tier: Completely free, no key required (polite pool with email)
- Data: 150M+ scholarly works metadata, including retraction/correction notices
- Rate limit: ~50 req/sec with polite header
- Key feature:
filter=update-type:retractionto find retraction notices
3. OpenAlex API
- URL: https://api.openalex.org/
- Free tier: Completely free, no API key needed
- Data: 250M+ scholarly works, citations, authors, institutions, concepts
- Key feature: Can track post-retraction citations (zombie papers)
- Rate limit: 100,000 req/day without key, more with email
4. Semantic Scholar API
- URL: https://api.semanticscholar.org/
- Free tier: Free, optional API key for higher limits
- Data: 200M+ papers with citation graphs, influential citations, TLDR summaries
- Key feature: Citation context — can identify HOW a retracted paper is being cited
5. PubMed E-utilities API
- URL: https://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/
- Free tier: Free with API key (easy to get)
- Data: 36M+ biomedical records, retraction publication type tag [pt]
- Key feature:
retracted publication [pt]search returns all retracted biomedical papers with rich metadata
6. Europe PMC API
- URL: https://europepmc.org/RestfulWebService
- Free tier: Completely free
- Data: Full-text search of 40M+ papers including open access full text
- Key feature: Can search full text for citations of known retracted DOIs
7. PubPeer API
- URL: https://pubpeer.com/api/
- Free tier: Limited public access
- Data: Community-flagged problematic papers
- Key feature: Early warning — papers flagged on PubPeer often get retracted later
SEO Analysis
High-value keywords:
- “retracted papers” — moderate difficulty, growing volume
- “retracted studies” — low competition
- “paper mill fraud” — emerging keyword, very low competition
- “zombie papers” — trending, very low competition
- “scientific fraud” — high volume, moderate competition
- “retracted medical studies” — moderate volume, low competition
- “[specific paper/author] retracted” — hundreds of long-tail opportunities per month
- “[journal name] retractions” — thousands of journal-specific keywords with zero competition
- “is [study/claim] retracted” — question-format keywords, perfect for SEO
- “retracted papers still cited” — emerging search pattern
Search volume signals:
- “retracted” + science searches have grown 180%+ since 2020
- Every major retraction scandal drives massive search spikes (Hindawi mass retraction, IVF fraud, Alzheimer’s fraud)
- 4,500+ new retractions in 2025 alone = continuous content fuel
- Paper mill investigations generate sustained media interest
SEO Opportunity:
- No competitor has SEO-optimized journal scorecards
- No competitor has field-by-field retraction dashboards
- Long-tail goldmine: every individual retraction creates a searchable page
- Image SEO: data visualizations rank well in Google Images
Communities
- r/science (30M+ members) — frequently discusses retractions
- r/academia — research integrity is recurring topic
- r/medicine — retracted medical studies directly affect practice
- r/labrats — bench scientists frustrated by fraudulent publications
- Academic Twitter/Bluesky — Elisabeth Bik, James Heathers, Guillaume Cabanac have huge followings as “science detectives”
- PubPeer community
- Science journalists (many cover this beat: Science, Nature, BMJ)
Image/Graphic Feasibility
What CAN be auto-generated:
- Retraction trend charts — time series by year, field, country, journal
- Journal accountability scorecards — radar/spider charts
- Zombie paper maps — network graphs showing retracted papers and their ongoing citations
- Field heat maps — which areas of science have the worst integrity problems
- Country/institution leaderboards — bar charts and maps
- Retraction reason breakdowns — pie/donut charts (fraud vs plagiarism vs error)
- Timeline infographics — for major retraction scandals
What CANNOT be easily auto-generated:
- Photo-quality images of scientists or labs (use abstract/data viz style instead)
Tools:
- Chart.js / D3.js for data visualizations
- Sharp/Canvas for composite images
- Mermaid for network diagrams
Market Size & Willingness to Pay
- Global food authenticity market: $10.2B → $14.4B by 2034 (shows willingness to fight fraud)
- Research integrity market: Growing rapidly, institutional budgets expanding
- Academic audience: 8M+ researchers globally, millions of science-interested consumers
- Retraction Watch: 7.5M pageviews in 2024 proves the audience exists
- Key insight: Retraction Watch is the only major player and it’s a small nonprofit blog. The niche is dramatically underserved relative to interest.
Revenue Signals
- Retraction Watch sustained by grants and donations (Center for Scientific Integrity)
- Science journalists have successful Substacks ($5-15/mo)
- B2B upsell: institutional subscriptions for research integrity monitoring
- Data journalists with dashboards attract grants and sponsorships
Sources
- https://retractionwatch.com/2024/12/26/a-look-back-at-2024-at-retraction-watch-and-forward-to-2025/
- https://phdtalks.org/2026/01/4500-research-papers-were-retracted-in-2025.html
- https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj-2024-082068 (VITALITY study — retracted trials in clinical guidelines)
- https://www.science.org/content/article/zombie-papers-wont-die-retracted-papers-notorious-fraudster-still-cited-years-later
- https://sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260306224235.htm (fake research spreading faster than real)
- https://www.crossref.org/labs/retraction-watch/
- https://api.openalex.org/
- https://api.semanticscholar.org/
- https://gitlab.com/crossref/retraction-watch-data
- https://open.fda.gov/apis/ (for drug-related retracted trial lookups)
- https://www.scinito.ai/paper-mills-the-hidden-crisis-threatening-scientific-integrity