Retracted Publications in the Biomedical Literature from 2012-2018: An Overview

Abstract

Abstract Background: The number of retracted publications in biomedical literature has increased dramatically in recent years. Many of these retractions are due to a faked review process and a large percentage of the retractions come from Chinese authors. The purpose of the current study was to determine the characteristics of retracted articles from 2012 to 2018 using the Medline database. Methods: The Medline database was searched to identify retracted publications from the year 2012 through 2017. Reasons for retraction were collected through PubMed, the Google search engine, and journal websites. Relevant data was collected for each retracted article and included the time from publication to retraction, the study type, the journal impact factor, and the institute of origin. Trends in characteristics related to retraction were determined. Results: Data from 4,043 retracted studies were included in the analysis. The most common reasons for retraction were fraud/suspected fraud (993), error (911), plagiarism (554), duplicate publication (547), and invalid peer review (384). The largest number of retracted articles was from China. Other countries with a large number of retractions were USA, Japan, India, Iran, Korea, Germany, and Italy. A faked review process, was responsible for a large number of retractions from China and Iran and from several journals. Conclusions: Misconduct, including fraud/suspected fraud, duplicate publication, and plagiarism, was the major cause for publication retraction. A faked review process caused the largest number of retractions in some countries. China has become the top country of origin for retracted publications.

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