Department of Bacteriology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2022 Apr 1;28(2):18. doi: 10.1007/s11948-022-00368-3.
Reasons underlying retractions of papers authored by the Iran-affiliated highly cited researchers (HCRs) have not been documented. Here, we report that 229 of the Iran-affiliated researchers were listed by the Clarivate Analytics as HCRs. We investigated the Retraction Watch Database and found that, in total, 51 papers authored by the Iran-affiliated HCRs were retracted from 2006 to 2019. Twenty-three of the 229 HCRs (10%) had at least one paper retracted. One of the listed HCRs had 22 papers retracted; 14 of the 23 (60.8%) had only one paper retracted. Among the 51 retracted papers, three had been authored by two female authors. Eight (16.8%) retracted papers had international co-authorships. The shortest and longest times from publication to retraction were 20 and 2610 (mean ± SD, 857 ± 616) days, respectively. Of the 51 papers, 43 (84%) had a single reason for retraction, whereas eight had multiple reasons. Among the 43 papers, 23 (53%) were retracted due to fake peer-review, eight (19%) were duplications, six (14%) had errors, four (9%) had plagiarism, and two (5%) were labelled as "limited or no information." Duplication of data, which is easily preventable, amounted to 27%. Any publishing oversight committed by an HCR may not be tolerated because they represent the stakeholders of the scientific literature and stand as role-models for other peer researchers. Future policies supporting the Iranian academia should radically change by implementation of educational and awareness programs on publishing ethics to reduce the rate of retractions in Iran.
伊朗系高引研究人员（HCRs）发表的论文被撤稿的原因尚不清楚。在这里，我们报告称，有 229 名伊朗系研究人员被科睿唯安列为 HCRs。我们调查了撤稿观察数据库，发现从 2006 年到 2019 年，共有 51 篇由伊朗系 HCRs 撰写的论文被撤稿。在 229 名 HCRs 中，有 23 名（10%）至少有一篇论文被撤稿。其中一名被列出的 HCR 有 22 篇论文被撤稿；23 名（60.8%）中有 14 名只有一篇论文被撤稿。在这 51 篇被撤稿的论文中，有 3 篇是由两名女性作者撰写的。有 8 篇（16.8%）被撤稿的论文有国际合著者。从发表到撤稿的最短和最长时间分别为 20 天和 2610 天（平均值±标准差，857±616 天）。在这 51 篇论文中，有 43 篇（84%）只有一个撤稿原因，而有 8 篇有多个原因。在这 43 篇论文中，有 23 篇（53%）是因为虚假同行评审而被撤稿，8 篇（19%）是重复发表，6 篇（14%）是错误，4 篇（9%）是抄袭，2 篇（5%）是“信息有限或无”。数据重复是很容易预防的，占 27%。HCR 犯下的任何出版失误都不应被容忍，因为他们代表着科学文献的利益相关者，是其他同行研究人员的榜样。为了降低伊朗的撤稿率，未来支持伊朗学术界的政策应该通过实施出版伦理教育和意识项目来彻底改变。
