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The paper addresses the problem of crack propagation from notches,where different phenomena such as notch plasticity and the so-called short crack effectare superimposed and make the use of Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics misleading.Tension-tension fatigue tests were conduced on notched specimens fabricated from 2-mm-thick FeP04 deep-drawing steel sheets. Different notch tip radii were considered,0.2, 1.25, 2.5 and 10 mm. Crack propagation data show a discrepancy from the longcrack behaviour described by the Paris law valid for the same load ratio. Aninterpretation of the short crack effect, at least at threshold conditions, based on thelocal strain energy density is put forward.