Integrity and accountability in academic publishing: trends and implications of paper retractions and journal delistings

Abstract In the context of academic publishing, ‘retraction’ refers to the withdrawal of a published article from the scientific record due to issues such as significant errors, plagiarism, fraudulent data, or unethical research practices. Retractions play a critical role in maintaining the integrity of scientific literature. Retraction Watch, a blog that tracks retractions of scientific papers, lists more than 48,000 retractions in its database, with increasing trend over time (from 450 reported retractions in 2008 to a staggering 7327 retractions in 2023). The extent to which this indicates a heightened vigilance in identifying problematic research or an increased tendency in committing research misconduct or errors is unclear. Retractions can have lasting consequences beyond the retracted paper itself for authors, editors, publishers and the scientific community at large. However, not all retractions are the same, and self-reporting errors might come with minimal effects, suggesting a recognition of accountability and corrective actions. Delisting of a journal from a scientific database such as Scopus and Web of Science refers to the removal of the journal from the database’s index. This can happen for various reasons, including quality concerns and ethical issues. Although this phenomenon is not necessarily correlated with the quality, integrity, or reliability of individual papers published in the delisted journal, it might still have significant impacts on the work and careers of researchers. For instance, articles in delisted journals might suffer from decreased visibility or authors might not be able to use it for promotions. The curated list of sources from Scopus is publicly available and lists around 800 discountinued sources due to quality concerns, while Web of Science made the news in 2023 for the delisting of several journals for editorial reasons, including the MDPI’s giant, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.