Dana Thimons, MLIS, MS, AHIP 
Medical Librarian 
Assistant Professor, Department of Foundational Sciences 
Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine 

Introduction  

RedacTek is an online source validation tool that helps researchers assess the reliability of scientific sources through data and trending analysis. Founded in 2019 by Rick Meyler, RedacTek’s goal is to improve the integrity and relevancy of citations in the scientific research industry.¹ It checks for retractions, author self-cites, and PubPeer comments of concern so users can identify issues with articles, journals, and author sources to the third generation.   

Content  

RedacTek’s sources include PubPeer,³ an online platform for post-publication peer review. PubPeer provides a space where scientists can point out errors, inconsistencies, or questionable data in published research, and authors can respond to comments about their work.⁴ OpenAlex is used by RedacTek to identify articles and their citations, and Crossref citation data is used to supplement RedacTek’s article and source list. RedacTek receives weekly updates on retractions from Retraction Watch.  

Features/Functionality  

Researchers can validate the integrity of an article’s sources by going directly to Redactek.com, or by using the recently released Chrome browser extension. The Chrome browser extension provides alerts if there are any DOI or PMID identifiers on the current webpage that correspond with issues detected by RedacTek (Figure 1). The browser extension works on every webpage the user visits, including journal websites, PubMed, and news outlets. The Chrome extension is configurable, enabling users to select the type of issue and level of source generation for which they want to receive alerts.²  

Figure 1: Chrome browser extension alert and configurable alert settings. Credit: RedacTek 

When the browser alert appears, users can click on “view details” to see which issue or issues caused the alert (Figure 2). Within the alert box, users can click on the down arrow after the article title. This will briefly highlight the article’s DOI in red on the webpage they are browsing to help them locate the article. Users can click on the article title within the browser alert box to view the Paper Scorecard on Redactek.com. 

Figure 2: Chrome browser extension alert details. Credit: RedacTek 

The Paper Scorecard opens in a new tab and provides basic information about the article, including title, author, year published, DOI, and abstract (Figure 3). The Paper Scorecard also provides information about any issues that have been detected with the article. If the article was retracted, there is a red “retracted” note on the Paper Scorecard in front of the title. The reasons for the retraction are listed under the abstract in the “Issues with this paper” callout box. This list frequently includes a link to Retraction Watch. If the article has any PubPeer comments, the number is prominently displayed in the “Issues with this paper” box. Articles where 25% or more of the sources were authored by an author of the article itself are flagged by RedacTek. The number of author self-cites is then prominently displayed in the “Issues with this paper” box. Users can click on the number of PubPeer comments or author self-cites for more information.  

Figure 3: Paper Scorecard for retracted article. Credit: RedacTek 

Clicking on the number of PubPeer Comments opens a new tab to PubPeer where researchers can view the comments about the article. Clicking on the number of author self-cites displays a list of author self-cites (Figure 4). Each article title in the list is hyperlinked to its corresponding Paper Scorecard.  

Figure 4: Author self-cites list. Credit: RedacTek 

Researchers can click on the author’s name in the Paper Scorecard to view a table listing the number of articles the author has published by year (Figure 5). The table shows the number of retractions, author self-cites, and PubPeer comments for all articles published by the author in a year, and the retractions, author self-cites, and PubPeer comments for all sources cited in the author’s articles. Users can click on the year in the chart to view the Paper Scorecard for each article published by the author in that particular year.  

Figure 5: Table listing all articles published by the author. Click on the author’s name in the Paper Scorecard to view the table. Credit: RedacTek 

Similarly, researchers can click on the journal name in the Paper Scorecard to view a table listing the number of articles the journal has published by year (Figure 6). The table shows the number of retractions, author self-cites, and PubPeer comments for all articles published by that journal in a year and sources cited in those articles. The chart helps researchers identify if the journal is demonstrating transparency, accountability, and active quality control by issuing retractions when errors or misconduct are discovered. It also helps researchers to identify journals with zero retractions or that are frequently citing retracting sources, either of which could be a potential issue. Users can click on the year in the chart to view the Paper Scorecard for each article published by the journal in that particular year. 

Figure 6: Table listing all articles published by the journal. Click on the journal name in the Paper Scorecard to view the table. Credit: RedacTek 

On RedacTek, users can enter an article name, author, journal, DOI, or topic into the search box (Figure 7). At the time of this writing, searching by title or DOI does not always yield an exact match in the first pages of results, and there is not a way to filter the search results.   

Figure 7: Search box and results at RedacTek. Credit: RedacTek 

Users can click on any article title within the search results to view the Paper Scorecard for that article. If no issues are detected in the paper (Figure 8), the “Issues with this paper” callout box will not be present. Under “Potential Issues in Sources,” the Paper Scorecard displays three generations of sources for each article and states the number of retractions, PubPeer Comments, and author self-cites for each generation, if any.   

Figure 8: Paper Scorecard with no issues detected in the article. Credit: RedacTek 

RedacTek assigns an issue association value to all records in the system. This value is calculated using the primary article’s retraction status, the primary source retraction ratio, the secondary source retraction ratio, and the tertiary source retraction ratio. This metric is used to sort the primary sources on each Paper Scorecard, with the most concerning sources at the top.⁵ 

Figure 9: Paper Scorecard primary sources. Credit: RedacTek 

Business Model  

RedacTek rolled out individual and institutional subscription plans in June 2025. Individual subscriptions are $3 per month, or $30 per year. Individuals who created free accounts prior to June 2025 will retain their free access. Institutional access is available via IP authentication or similar campus-wide access.  

Breakthrough  

RedacTek helps detect problems with scientific literature, enhancing research quality and protecting institutional reputations, which makes it a valuable resource for any academic, biomedical, or special library. The Chrome browser extension provides an easy way to incorporate RedacTek into searches and make researchers aware of potential issues in articles. Librarians could use RedacTek as a tool to increase relevance and engagement during information literacy instruction.  

References 

1. RedacTek. 2025. About us. Available from: https://release.redactek.com/about_us/ 

2.  RedacTek Release. 2025. Chrome browser plugin now updated. Available from https://release.redactek.com/ 

3. RedacTek Release. 2025. Our sources. Available from: https://release.redactek.com/our-sources/  

4. PubPeer. 2025. About. Available from: https://pubpeer.com/static/about 

5. Chawla, Dalmeet Singh.  2024. RedacTek featured in Nature.Com. How reliable is this research? Tool flags papers discussed on PubPeer. Available from: https://release.redactek.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RedacTek-article-in-Nature.pdf