Epidemiology Unit, Health Research Institute-Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, (IIS-FJD, UAM), Madrid, Spain
Genetics and Genomics Department, Health Research Institute-Fundación Jiménez Díaz University Hospital, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, (IIS-FJD, UAM), Madrid, Spain.
J Med Genet. 2019 Nov;56(11):734-740. doi: 10.1136/jmedgenet-2019-106137. Epub 2019 Jul 12.
Between 0.02% and 0.04% of articles are retracted. We aim to: (a) describe the reasons for retraction of genetics articles and the time elapsed between the publication of an article and that of the retraction notice because of research misconduct (ie, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism); and (b) compare all these variables between retracted medical genetics (MG) and non-medical genetics (NMG) articles.
All retracted genetics articles published between 1970 and 2018 were retrieved from the Retraction Watch database. The reasons for retraction were fabrication/falsification, plagiarism, duplication, unreliability, and authorship issues. Articles subject to investigation by company/institution, journal, US Office for Research Integrity or third party were also retrieved.
1582 retracted genetics articles (MG, n=690; NMG, n=892) were identified . Research misconduct and duplication were involved in 33% and 24% of retracted papers, respectively; 37% were subject to investigation. Only 0.8% of articles involved both fabrication/falsification and plagiarism. In this century the incidence of both plagiarism and duplication increased statistically significantly in genetics retracted articles; conversely, fabrication/falsification was significantly reduced. Time to retraction due to scientific misconduct was statistically significantly shorter in the period 2006-2018 compared with 1970-2000. Fabrication/falsification was statistically significantly more common in NMG (28%) than in MG (19%) articles. MG articles were significantly more frequently investigated (45%) than NMG articles (31%). Time to retraction of articles due to fabrication/falsification was significantly shorter for MG (mean 4.7 years) than for NMG (mean 6.4 years) articles; no differences for plagiarism (mean 2.3 years) were found. The USA (mainly NMG articles) and China (mainly MG articles) accounted for the largest number of retracted articles.
Genetics is a discipline with a high article retraction rate (estimated retraction rate 0.15%). Fabrication/falsification and plagiarism were almost mutually exclusive reasons for article retraction. Retracted MG articles were more frequently subject to investigation than NMG articles. Retracted articles due to fabrication/falsification required 2.0-2.8 times longer to retract than when plagiarism was involved.
有 0.02%至 0.04%的文章被撤回。我们的目的是：(a)描述因研究不端行为（即伪造、篡改、抄袭）而撤回遗传学文章以及从发表文章到撤回通知之间的时间；以及(b)比较撤回的医学遗传学（MG）和非医学遗传学（NMG）文章之间的所有这些变量。
从 Retraction Watch 数据库中检索了 1970 年至 2018 年期间发表的所有撤回的遗传学文章。撤回的原因是伪造/篡改、抄袭、重复、不可靠和作者身份问题。还检索了因公司/机构、期刊、美国研究诚信办公室或第三方而受到调查的文章。
确定了 1582 篇撤回的遗传学文章（MG，n=690；NMG，n=892）。研究不端行为和重复分别涉及 33%和 24%的撤回论文；37%的论文受到调查。只有 0.8%的文章同时涉及伪造/篡改和抄袭。本世纪，遗传学撤回论文中抄袭和重复的发生率均呈统计学显著增加；相反，伪造/篡改的发生率显著降低。由于科学不端行为而导致的撤回时间在 2006-2018 年期间与 1970-2000 年期间相比具有统计学显著缩短。伪造/篡改在 NMG（28%）中比在 MG（19%）文章中更为常见。MG 文章比 NMG 文章（31%）更频繁地受到调查（45%）。由于伪造/篡改而撤回的 MG 文章（平均 4.7 年）的时间明显短于 NMG 文章（平均 6.4 年）；对于抄袭（平均 2.3 年），则没有差异。美国（主要是 NMG 文章）和中国（主要是 MG 文章）撤回的文章数量最多。
遗传学是一个高撤稿率的学科（估计撤稿率为 0.15%）。伪造/篡改和抄袭几乎是撤回文章的相互排斥的原因。MG 文章的撤回文章比 NMG 文章更频繁地受到调查。由于伪造/篡改而撤回的文章比涉及抄袭时需要 2.0-2.8 倍的时间才能撤回。
