Standard Peer Review Research Articles

Choosing the ‘right’ journal for publication: Perceptions and practices of pandemic‐era early career researchers

AbstractPresents early data from an investigation of the work lives and scholarly communication practices of 177 early career researchers (ECRs) from eight countries. Utilizing mainly coded and textual data from interviews, the paper reports on the findings that pertain to publishing papers in peer reviewed journals. We examine which factors are taken into account when choosing the journal to publish their research in, identifying similarities/differences by country, age, academic status and discipline. Also, explored is whether the pandemic has changed decision‐making. Main findings are that the aim for ECRs is to publish in the ‘best’ journals, variably measured by prestige, impact factor, standards of peer review and indexation. Appropriateness of audience is the only factor unrelated to the quality of the journal that figures highly among the factors that guide ECRs in the process of selecting a journal. The pandemic has made little difference to the majority of ECRs when they decide on a journal for publishing their research. However, there is a greater awareness of the need for a faster turnover rate, brought on by the importance accorded to speedy publication during the pandemic.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: A minute freshwater pycnodont fish from the Late Cretaceous on the southern margin of the Junggar Basin: Palaeoecological implications

Statement of Retraction We, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Historical Biology (the “Historical Biology”), have retracted the following article: Zhou, X., You, J., Jin, J., Feng, Q., Luo, Z., Hu, J., & Li, Y. 2023. A minute freshwater pycnodont fish from the Late Cretaceous on the southern margin of the Junggar Basin: Palaeoecological implications. Hist. Biol. 35(9): 1528-1535. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2022.2099274 Following publication, the journal was contacted by a third party regarding the integrity of the study and reported findings. An investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief concluded that the article was not peer-reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal’s peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher have decided to retract the article. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

Экспертная система поддержки принятия решений как средство повышения качества рецензирования статей в научном журнале

An analytical study of the editorial and publishing policies of journals has made it possible to substantiate a group of qualitative criteria that determine the formal and content requirements for scientific manuscripts in the process of making decisions about their publication. Considering the standards that regulate publishing processes and bibliographic business allows identifying the main elements of the publishing design of articles and the editor-in-chief, editorial board and editorial team’s requirements for manuscripts. On the ground of the identified typical stages in selecting manuscripts for publication, an expert decision support system has been developed and implemented for a formalized assessment of the scientific article quality based on standardized peer review results. The proposed expert system makes it possible to reduce the reviewers’ subjectivity level due to the review process standardization and to select the best articles for publication in the journal on the example of the online electronic edition “Ergodesign”.

Measuring the developmental function of peer review: a multi-dimensional, cross-disciplinary analysis of peer review reports from 740 academic journals.

Reviewers do not only help editors to screen manuscripts for publication in academic journals; they also serve to increase the rigor and value of manuscripts by constructive feedback. However, measuring this developmental function of peer review is difficult as it requires fine-grained data on reports and journals without any optimal benchmark. To fill this gap, we adapted a recently proposed quality assessment tool and tested it on a sample of 1.3 million reports submitted to 740 Elsevier journals in 2018–2020. Results showed that the developmental standards of peer review are shared across areas of research, yet with remarkable differences. Reports submitted to social science and economics journals show the highest developmental standards. Reports from junior reviewers, women and reviewers from Western Europe are generally more developmental than those from senior, men and reviewers working in academic institutions outside Western regions. Our findings suggest that increasing the standards of peer review at journals requires effort to assess interventions and measure practices with context-specific and multi-dimensional frameworks.

Retracted: Robotic Process Automation use cases in academia and early implementation experiences

AbstractRetraction: [Ankur Gupta, Purnendu Prabhat, Sahil Sawhney, Rajesh Gupta, Sudeep Tanwar, Neeraj Kumar, Mohammad Shabaz, Robotic Process Automation use cases in academia and early implementation experiences, IET Software 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1049/sfw2.12061)].The above article from IET Software, published online on 19 May 2022 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the Editor‐in‐Chief, Hana Chockler, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (the IET) and John Wiley and Sons Ltd. This article was published as part of a Guest Edited special issue. Following an investigation, the IET and the journal have determined that the article was not reviewed in line with the journal’s peer review standards and there is evidence that the peer review process of the special issue underwent systematic manipulation. Accordingly, we cannot vouch for the integrity or reliability of the content. As such we have taken the decision to retract the article. The authors have been informed of the decision to retract.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Torque Coordinated Control of Hybrid Power System Based on Feedback Iterative Algorithm in Industry 4.0

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Yunlong Wang, Hongtian Zhang & Yuantao Sun (2022) Torque Coordinated Control of Hybrid Power System Based on Feedback Iterative Algorithm in Industry 4.0, IETE Journal of Research, DOI: 10.1080/03772063.2022.2069605 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal's peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

TAXONOMIC REMARKS ON SIDEROLITES JURASSICA YOUSSEF & EL-SOROGY, 2015, CALLOVIAN OF SAUDI-ARABIA

The increasing availability of numerous journals with limited peer review and editorial standards has led to an ever-increasing introduction of new fossil taxa that ultimately need taxonomic revision. The introduction of dubious and poorly described taxa adds confusion to the scientific literature. Furthermore, their potential inclusion in global taxonomic databases, and the subsequent usage of this data in review papers necessitates critical comment and thoughtful clarification. The recent introduction of Siderolites jurassica Youssef & El-Sorogy is a good example of a taxon that is both poorly described and which clouds the literature, thus requiring revision. This species was described and illustrated from just one isolated specimen obtained from Callovian marls in Saudi Arabia. Siderolites represents an exclusively Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) complex rotaloid Large Benthic Foraminifera with a distinctive identity that can be clearly deciphered by studying oriented and random thin-sections. A Jurassic occurrence would overturn our current understanding of foraminiferal evolution as well as their usage for biostrat-igraphic analyses. It is suspected that the Middle Jurassic specimen described from Saudi Arabia belongs to a small-sized group of arenaceous benthic foraminifera exhibiting conical protuberances (or spines) such as Thurammina Brady and should neither be regarded as belonging to the genus Siderolites nor any other siderolitid representative.

Energy Science & Engineering: 10 Years of excellence

This year celebrates 10 years of the journal, Energy Science & Engineering (ESE). In 2013, ESE was launched as a peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted to publishing high-quality research in energy. Published by Wiley and the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), the journal offers authors a fast route to publication and the ability to share their important research in the highest visible global forum. As a prestigious journal, it maintains the highest standards of peer review as evidenced by an average rejection rate of over 60%. Dr Tomas Kaberger was the first editor-in-chief of the ESE, and he played an important leading role in the journal development. In 2018, it was my honor to succeed Tomas Kaberger as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.1 In his inaugural editorial on the first page of this journal, Kaerger said “We hope this journal will serve as an excellent platform for integrated research, education, and communication, particularly for those with results of immediate relevance in the energy industry.”2 On the 10th birthday of ESE, we can see that ESE has grown in all possible ways, including the number of annual submissions (1000+), the number of papers (up to 300), and issues (12) published annually, and the impact factor (4.170). It has achieved numerous milestones (see Table 1) and has published many high-impact papers (see Table 2). This is because of your participation and contributions as authors, reviewers, readers, staff, editorial advisory board members, and editors. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of ESE, we organized this special issue, which consists of 12 invited articles in various energy areas, including CO2 reduction, solar energy conversion, photovoltaics, batteries, electrolysis of water, and clean fuels. The first three articles are reviews on the application of non-thermal plasma in methanol synthesis from CO2 hydrogenation, recent progress in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metal single-atom catalysts, and CO2 reduction into formic acid under hydrothermal conditions, respectively. The fourth and fifth review articles summarized solar energy conversion, including the application of ultrathin TiO2 layers in solar energy conversion devices and the phase change of salt hydrates for photovoltaics thermal management. The review article on solid-state lithium-ion batteries constitutes the sixth article, while the seventh article is a review on sodium-ion batteries. The eighth review article assessed the degradation issues and highlighted the stabilization strategies of protonic ceramic electrolysis cells for steam electrolysis. Among four research papers, the first one is the investigation of energy management for robots. Renewable hydrogen production and natural gas blending systems were developed and assessed in the second research article, while the third research paper explored subphthalocyanine–triangulene dyads for light-harvesting device applications. The final article has made contributions to Fischer–Tropsch synthesis by converting waste to sustainable aviation fuel. I wish to express my gratitude by thanking all the authors and reviewers for their contributions to this special issue and my two colleagues (ESE Deputy Editors-in-Chief at Wiley), Dr Sonia Ojo and Dr Costas Kouroupis-Agalou, for their great efforts in the peer-review process and the organization of this special issue. At this unique moment, I would like to say “Happy Birthday” to ESE, and extend my sincere gratitude to all of you for your enthusiasm in submitting high-quality manuscripts as authors, your important evaluating manuscripts as reviewers, your energetic discussions, and helpful suggestions as editorial advisory board members, and your great contributions as handling editors. I also appreciate the strong support and help from the publisher Wiley and the SCI. Prof. Yun Hang Hu is the Editor-in-Chief of Energy Science & Engineering.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Securing Diagnosed Parkinson’s Disease Data by Blockchain Technology using 2E2C Algorithm

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Kusum Yadav, Mnaouer Kachout, Yasser Alharbi, Abdulrahman Alreshidi, Anurag Jain, Eissa Jaber Alreshidi, Md Haidar Sharif, Bassam Wasfi Aboshosha & Shoayee Dlaim Alotaibi (2022) Securing Diagnosed Parkinson's Disease Data by Blockchain Technology using 2E2C Algorithm, IETE Journal of Research, DOI: 10.1080/03772063.2022.2063196 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal's peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

Reckoning With Race and Gender in Public Administration and Public Policy: A Substantive Social Equity Turn

AbstractPromoting race‐aware and gender‐aware scholarship is essential for giving substance to social equity research. This review and introduction provides an account of one such initiative to promote race and gender scholarship through collaboration between Public Administration Review (PAR), and the Consortium of Race and Gender Scholars (CORGES), and introduces the PAR Race and Gender Symposium. CORGES is an informal group of scholars motivated by the pressing need to address issues of racial justice and gender justice in public administration and public policy scholarship. This PAR symposium is based on the CORGES inaugural conference, held virtually in September 2020. Conference organizers, with the help of Editor‐in‐Chief Jeremy Hall, devised and oversaw a thoughtful and detailed plan to provide developmental feedback before papers were submitted to PAR's standard peer review process. The symposium is comprised of 14 research articles and 2 viewpoint contributions. In addition to describing symposium contributions, this review provides an account of CORGES origins and its ongoing intellectual and normative commitments on furthering inquiry on racializing and gendering, while also elaborating on the idea of everydayness of scholarly activism. CORGES, with a recently expanded board of advisors committed to centering public administration scholarship on race and gender, as well its intersection with other markers of oppression, continues to support academic research and public outreach on race and gender scholarship.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Combination Weighting Method of Engineering Disciplines Evaluation Index Based on Soft Computing

The development of engineering disciplines is aided by research into constructing a characteristic index system, particularly when the blockchain technology is used. The key issue is how to choose multi-level evaluation indicators reasonably while also scientifically defining the weights of indicators at all levels. Subjective empowerment methods are insufficient in terms of subjective influence, whereas objective empowerment methods necessitate a large sample size, a practical problem domain, and complex calculation methods. In response to the need for characteristic index system construction and evaluation research, this paper identifies four first-level indicators, eleven second-level indicators, and twenty-one third-level indicators as the main evaluation dimensions including academic achievements, discipline strength, talent training, and international development. The proposed method combines the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), based on triangular fuzzy numbers, with the critic weighting analysis method. It is establishing a multi-level evaluation index system to propose targeted combination weighting methods for the engineering disciplines. To avoid evaluation bias caused by the single use of subjective or objective weighting methods, the difference coefficient method is used for combined weighting based on subjective and objective information to calculate the weighting results. The experimental and modelling data show that the calculation and evaluation results of the algorithm proposed in this paper are promising and applicable in multiple domains where there is a hierarchy in the problem domain and multiple parameters participate in decision making. With the evaluation results of the proposed approach, the subjective weight obtained is 0.047, and the objective weight obtained is 0.253.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Multiple Fixed Target Location Algorithms in Large-Scale MIMO Wireless Sensor Networks for IIoT

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Ting Yang (2022) Multiple Fixed Target Location Algorithms in Large-Scale MIMO Wireless Sensor Networks for IIoT, IETE Journal of Research, DOI: 10.1080/03772063.2022.2061611 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal’s peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Incremental Outlier Feature Clustering Algorithm in Blockchain Networks Based on Big Data Analysis

Outlier detection in data mining aims at identifying anomalous observations known as outliers. The standard communication network incremental outlier feature clustering technique has a low clustering impact, requires several iterations, and takes a long clustering time. A novel incremental outlier based on big data analysis is proposed to overcome these problems for communicating networks in a Blockchain environment. Through big data analysis, the Point feature clustering algorithm uses the kernel density estimation technique with Gaussian kernel function to estimate the incremental outlier density of the communication network in the Blockchain framework. It mines the incremental outlier and applies the empirical mode based on the outlier mined for optimal outcome. The decomposition technique is used to extract outlier features, give weights to the features, and calculate the outlier degree and clusters. According to the results, the communication network, based on the Blockchain environment, may be clustered for incremental outlier features, and then outliers are ideally detected optimally. The simulation of the proposed technique is performed on three types of datasets. The simulation to form a cluster with the proposed method takes around 10 s of clustering time. The simulation results reveal that the proposed incremental outlier feature clustering (OFC) technique has a better outlier feature clustering impact on Blockchain-based networks, and requires a fewer iterations due to low computational and space complexity than other existing clustering techniques.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Congestion Control of Multipath Parallel Transmission of Data for Blockchain Applications

The control of congestion is very important in the parallel transmission of blockchain-based data over high-speed networks. There are drawbacks to the conventional methods, such as interference between different transmission paths, the collision of data, and channel allocation policies to address these problems, there is a need to investigate newer methods for controlling the congestion on multipath channels for parallel transmission of data. The conventional methods cannot reduce the data packet queuing time, the packet loss rate, and latency time of packets. In parallel data transfer, especially in blockchain-based transactions, congestion control is critical. This research proposes and implements a data congestion control approach for multipath parallel transmission on IoT networks. The multipath parallel transmission path is established in this research work to enable the source node to sense the path congestion information in a real-time environment. Finally, the low congestion path is selected to avoid congestion for parallel data transmission and to achieve high throughput over the network channels. The simulation results show that the strategy provided in this paper minimizes data packet queuing time efficiently, boosts network channel throughput, and decreases data packet loss rate.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Graph based CNN Algorithm to Detect Spammer Activity Over Social Media

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Aditya Tandon, Shouvik Kumar Guha, Junaid Rashid, Jungeun Kim, Mamta Gahlan, Mohammad Shabaz & Nasreen Anjum (2022) Graph based CNN Algorithm to Detect Spammer Activity Over Social Media, IETE Journal of Research, DOI: 10.1080/03772063.2022.2061610 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal’s peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: A Method of Fuzzy Enhancement for Degraded Image Based on Deep Learning

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Ming Han & Han Liu (2022) A Method of Fuzzy Enhancement for Degraded Image Based on Deep Learning, IETE Journal of Research, DOI: 10.1080/03772063.2022.2058632 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal's peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

The integration of statistical learning in intelligence education: is the academy equipping tomorrow’s intelligence professionals to analyze data-centric threats?

ABSTRACT ‘We need data-literate analysts’ is a refrain heard from both the intelligence community and the private sector. In this study we ascertain the degree to which graduate programs in intelligence studies 1) meet professional standards and 2) have integrated quantitative analysis courses into their curricula. To better understand the current state of intelligence education we used a modified version of the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE) educational standards to examine 28 United States educational institutions offering a graduate program focused on national security intelligence. One-quarter of the programs (25%) offered classes in all seven educational categories. In addition, of the programs surveyed, 25% have developed curricula that provide statistical learning skills. Considering the significant changes in the US threat environment, and the comparative lack of quantitative analysis content in graduate intelligence programs in the US, there is an urgent need to make intelligence curricula more robust and comprehensive by adding quantitative analysis capabilities. We posit that a well-trained and educated intelligence workforce must include peer-reviewed standards for intelligence education. A debate on the accreditation of intelligence programs is a logical next step to advancing the intelligence profession through continuous improvement of the quality of academic degree programs and curricula.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Internet of Thing based Koch Fractal Curve Fractal Antennas for Wireless Applications

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Kusum Yadav, Anurag Jain, Nada Mohamed Osman Sid Ahmed, Sawsan Ali Saad Hamad, Gaurav Dhiman & Shoayee Dlaim Alotaibi (2022) Internet of Thing based Koch Fractal Curve Fractal Antennas for Wireless Applications, IETE Journal of Research, doi:10.1080/03772063.2022.2058631 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal’s peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: A Method of Tracking Visual Targets in Fine-Grained Image Using Machine Learning

We, the Editor, Institution and Publisher of the journal IETE Journal of Research, have retracted the following article, which is part of the Special Issue titled “Federated Learning for Blockchain Systems and Industrial Internet of Things”: Xiao Ma, Yufei Ye, Leihang Chen, Haibo Tao & Cancan Liao (2022) A Method of Tracking Visual Targets in Fine-Grained Image Using Machine Learning, IETE Journal of Research, DOI:10.1080/03772063.2022.2058099 Following publication, concerns were raised about the peer review and decision-making processes for this special issue. After an investigation by the Taylor & Francis Publishing Ethics & Integrity team, in full cooperation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Institution, it was confirmed that the articles included in this special issue were not reviewed appropriately, in line with the Journal’s peer review standards and policy. As the stringency of the peer review process is core to the integrity of the publication process, the Editor and Publisher have decided to retract all of the articles within the above-named Special Issue. The journal has not confirmed if the authors were aware of this compromised peer review process. The journal is committed to correcting the scientific record and will fully cooperate with any institutional investigations into this matter. The authors have been informed of this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted articles will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but they will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Anomaly Detection of High-Speed Railway Catenary Damage

The Railway Catenary system is an integral and essential component of railway electrification. The working state of the catenary system can directly affect the normal operation of the locomotive. The section insulator (SI) in the catenary system is required for the electrical segregation of two feeds such as in a crossover while deciding the destined track from two adjacent tracks. We propose a deep learning-based approach for abnormal detection of insulator breakage in high-speed railway catenary. Semantic segmentation is an important theory in deep learning-based image segmentation. Aiming at the abnormal detection of insulator breakage in high-speed railway catenary, semantic segmentation technology is used to detect the abnormalities, which can quantitatively describe the area of insulator breakage or damage. Based on the DeepLab V3+ semantic segmentation network, the characteristics of the insulator’s data are retrieved. The Multi Feature DeepLab V3+ network and the Attention DeepLab V3+ networks are proposed to solve the anomaly detection problem of the damaged area from the insulator’s images. The results show that the improved two-folded semantic segmentation networks can better mark the contours of the damaged area of the insulator to safeguard the Catenary system. The outcomes are compared with the original DeepLab V3+ and the MIoU values of the two improved semantic segmentation networks have been improved to a remarkable extent that improves the overall performance of the deep learning-based segmentation of insulator’s images.