Abstract
When a research group has multiple retracted publications and/or research misconduct by a member is evident, there is a risk that its other publications are unreliable, so a comprehensive assessment of the group’s publications is advisable. We analyzed the comprehensiveness of assessment of the integrity of 300 publications by a research group with numerous retractions and known research misconduct, for 292 of which we raised concerns to publishers and academic institutions between 3/2013 and 2/2020. By 4/2023, 91 (30%) publications had not been assessed by either publisher or academic institution. Publishers had assessed 185 (63%) publications. The 4 academic institutions had assessed 5/36 (14%), 56/216 (26%), 30/50 (60%) and 40/66 (61%) publications. Unprompted assessments, those undertaken without our notification of concerns, occurred for 24 (8%) publications, 3 (1%) by publishers and 21 (7%) by academic institutions. Among 32 journals with ≥2 affected publications, no unprompted assessments of the remaining publication(s) occurred after notification of concerns about the index publication(s). Publishers retracted 58/84 (69%) publications which institutions also assessed and decided needed no editorial action. These analyses demonstrate the failure of publishers and institutions to comprehensively and spontaneously determine the integrity of publications in a setting of known misconduct and multiple retractions.
Original language | English |
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Number of pages | 21 |
Journal | Accountability in Research |
Early online date | 20 Dec 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 20 Dec 2023 |
Data Availability Statement
Study data are either available in the public domain or can be obtained from the lead author upon reasonable request.Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2023.2295996
Keywords
- publication integrity
- assessment
- journals
- universities
- retraction