Retraction to: Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: Evolution of Race and Ethnicity Considerations for the Cardiology Workforce in the United States of America From 1969 to 2019.

For the article “Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity: Evolution of Race and Ethnicity Considerations for the Cardiology Workforce in the United States of America From 1969 to 2019” by Norman C. Wang, the American Heart Association became aware of serious concerns after publication. The author's institution, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), has notified the Editor‐in‐Chief that the article contains many misconceptions and misquotes and that together those inaccuracies, misstatements, and selective misreading of source materials void the paper of its scientific validity.

A sample of the misconceptions and misquotes identified in correspondence from UPMC include:

A quote from an article on one program’s success at diversifying its cardiology fellowship training is taken out of context and falsely implies that the Ohio State University (OSU) program ranked racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in medicines with lower academic credentials in order to achieve diversity. Dr. Wang quotes this group as stating:

“… we simply made it a priority to rank [underrepresented in medicine] applicants more aggressively than in previous years, thus achieving success in matching them regardless of recruiting efforts, with the implication being that we accepted less competitive applicants in an effort to increase diversity.”

The full statement is:

Another issue may be that we simply made it a priority to rank URM applicants more aggressively than in previous years, … with the implication being that we accepted less competitive applicants in an effort to increase diversity. Although the measurement of an applicant's achievement reflected in his or her application and, by extrapolation, the applicant's potential for being a successful fellow, cannot be fairly quantified, USMLE score comparison shows no significant difference between URM and non‐URM fellows matched to the OSU program.

A quote from an article is mischaracterized and falsely implies that working in an underserved area may be attributable to inability to secure a job in other areas because of low professional qualifications. Dr. Wang describes this group as stating:

“This hypothesis was supported by a 1995 California study that demonstrated primary care physicians who were not board certified were 1.6 times more likely to work in rural underserved areas when compared with board‐certified counterparts.”

The group’s actual statement is:

Among physicians completing postgraduate medical education after 1974, board‐certified family physicians were 3 times more likely to locate in medically underserved rural communities than were other primary care physicians. Non‐board‐certified family and general physicians were 1.6 times more likely than other non‐board‐certified primary care physicians to locate in rural underserved areas.

Based on errors such as these, the editors of JAHA no longer stand by their decision to publish this article. The Editors of JAHA and the American Heart Association have published a series of responses to this article, , , and this retraction is now updated to include these references. The responses include mapping a path forward for JAHA to eliminate deficiencies in the peer review process. Additionally, JAHA welcomes high‐quality manuscript submissions on the issues of diversity, inclusion and equity in the medical profession and their impact on the health care system and patient outcomes. JAHA will continue to update this retraction as appropriate

The Editor‐in‐Chief deeply regrets publishing the article and offers his apologies. The American Heart Association and the Editor‐in‐Chief have determined that the best interest of the public and the research community will be served by issuing this notice of retraction. The author does not agree to the retraction.

The Editors and the American Heart Association retract the article from publication in Journal of the American Heart Association.