Abstract
Objective: To provide an overview of retractions of research papers contributed by authors from the Arab region. Method: Papers in which the first author was affiliated to an Arabian country were selected from the Retraction Watch database covering the period 1 January 1998 to 31 December 2018. The retrieved records were divided into nine categories based on the reasons for retraction. Results: The search yielded 322 retractions, and the most frequent reason for retraction was plagiarism (34.5%). The median time from publication to retraction was 14 (25%-75% percentile 5-30) months. The number of papers retracted each year as well as the number of papers published in a given year but subsequently retracted increased steadily over the 21 years. The proportion of retracted papers to the total number of published papers (0.17%) was higher than the global proportion and was the highest for Algeria (1%) and the lowest for Lebanon (0.03%). Of the countries within the Arab region, 12 out of 14 countries showed either plagiarism or duplication as the most common reason for retraction; however, the countries differed in terms of the number of retractions and the time from publishing to retraction. Conclusion: Plagiarism was the most common cause of retraction in the Arab countries. The increase in the number of papers retracted each year was probably because searches now extend farther in the past, whereas the increase in the number of papers published in a given year but subsequently retracted can be attributed to the overall increase in the number of papers published.
Highlights
IntroductionPeer reviewed journals, have served as the main means of scientific communication ever since their appearance
Research journals, peer reviewed journals, have served as the main means of scientific communication ever since their appearance
The impact on research literature of the increased publishing activity and greater pressure has been the subject of many studies, some of which have shown the trade-off between quantity and quality,[7,8,9] with some researchers using scientific publications as a currency for promotion, regardless of their quality
Summary
Peer reviewed journals, have served as the main means of scientific communication ever since their appearance. The impact on research literature of the increased publishing activity and greater pressure has been the subject of many studies, some of which have shown the trade-off between quantity and quality,[7,8,9] with some researchers using scientific publications as a currency for promotion, regardless of their quality. Other studies have countered this claim and shown that highly productive researchers, as assessed by the number of publications, publish highquality papers, as assessed by the number of publications in journals with high impact factors.[6,10] the increase in the volume of scientific literature is matched by the number of mistakes found in research papers. Journals publish corrections or errata subsequently or, in extreme cases, retract papers altogether to purge the literature as much as possible of inaccuracies and false information.[15]
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