The number of retractions has risen in recent years in part because journals are acting more quickly, says a study in PLOS ONE (R. G. Steen et al. PLOS ONE 8, e68397; 2013). R. Grant Steen of MediCC! medical-communication consultants in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and his colleagues analysed 2,047 papers published between 1973 and 2012, and later retracted. Those published in or before 2002 were retracted in 50 months on average; later, retractions took 24 months. Data that seemed “too good to be true” may now slip by less often, says Steen. “There might be a tendency to confront the author.”