KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A recent government-initiated national review required all university researchers in China to declare research retractions.
• Results are awaited, but outputs of national monitoring schemes of this nature could help to reduce research misconduct.

Numerous papers are retracted from academic journals each year, owing to honest mistakes or research misconduct. In 2023, most retractions were from Hindawi, a subsidiary of the publisher Wiley. A recent analysis performed by Nature revealed a high proportion of those retracted articles involved Chinese co-authors. In response, the Chinese government issued a national notice to universities to investigate retracted research papers and misconduct. Now, a recent Nature News article by Smriti Mallapaty summarises the key details of the review and discusses the wider impact it could have on academia.

Notice calling for disclosure of retractions

The notice, issued by the Ministry of Education’s Department of Science, Technology and Informatization, called for:

• a record of listed and unlisted retractions from English- and Chinese-language journals from the past 3 years
• reasons for retractions, such as misconduct (eg, image manipulation), or an honest mistake
• penalties for misconduct or failure to declare retracted articles (eg, salary cuts, bonus withdrawals, demotions or suspensions from grant applications).

As reported by Mallapaty, this is considered to be the first national review on this scale, with a clearer target and broader scope than earlier efforts.

Short timeframe to complete review

Mallapaty also flagged that universities were required to complete their reviews within a strict timeframe, and that views on this approach were somewhat mixed. While some felt that the tight deadline might have ensured that universities worked hard to complete their reviews on time, others suggested that universities may only have submitted preliminary reports.

Impact of national review

Although the next actions from the Ministry are unclear, it is suggested that publicising the reasons for retractions could be useful alongside existing online retraction notices. A yearly review could also ensure universities monitor research integrity.

Science- and innovation-policy researcher Li Tang says “cultivating research integrity takes time, but China is on the right track”.

“Cultivating research integrity takes time, but China is on the right track”.

With reports submitted in mid-February, it will be interesting to see the ultimate impact of this national review and whether other countries undertake similar initiatives to investigate research retraction and misconduct.

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