Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Associate Professor, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz , Ahvaz, Iran
2 PhD student in Knowledge and Information Science Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz,, Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Scientific misconduct followed by retracted publications is one of the main obstacles to the development of societies, as it damages the material capital and scientific reputation of journals, organizations and countries. The present research has analyzed the characteristics of retracted publications extracted from the Web of Science database in engineering sciences, physical sciences, humanities and social sciences published in the years from 1992 to 2021.
Methodology: The present research has analyzed the characteristics of retracted publications extracted from the Web of Science database in engineering sciences, physical sciences, humanities and social sciences published in the years from 1992 to 2021.This research has used various bibliometric indicators, including the number and rank of publications, the number of citations, and the centrality indices in the collaboration network of countries, based on the research areas.
Findings: The results showed that engineering science ranked higher than other non-medical fields on the global scale with 2996 retracted documents and 23156 citations received. It was also found that subject areas with most violations and fraudulent publications in each of the aforementioned sciences are “Energy Fuels” from engineering sciences, “Chemistry Multidisciplinary” from physical sciences and “Education Educational Research” from humanities and social sciences with 1038, 316, and 84 retracted works, respectively. In addition, the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China had the highest level of collaboration in the prevalence of retracted publications in different fields of science.
Discussion: It is suggested that policymakers formulate long-term plans to protect the health of research by promoting the culture of systemic thinking in the research system, continuously teaching the principles of publication ethics, and informing the main actors of research, i.e., scholars, publishers, editors, and reviewers of journals. It is suggested that policymakers formulate long-term plans to protect the health of research by promoting the culture of systemic thinking in the research system, continuously teaching the principles of publication ethics, and informing the main actors of research, i.e., scholars, publishers, editors, and reviewers of journals.
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