Research papers that list Chinese institutions account for more than half of the retractions across 10 academic publishers, according to a new large-scale analysis.
The study, which has not been peer reviewed yet, was published on arXiv last month and examined 46,000 retractions issued by scholarly journals between 1997 and 2026 that were indexed by the Retraction Watch Database.
According to the study, there were 29,867 Chinese affiliations listed on these retractions – more than 91% of which don’t list international collaborators. Researchers in China produced 16.5% of all research output during that time period, the study found, despite the country’s institutions being listed on more than 52% of retracted papers in the sample.
Following China, institutions based in India, the US and Saudi Arabia feature on 7.25%, 5.72% and 2.83% of retractions, respectively.
I can think of two major reasons for this off the top of my pointy little head:
1. “Publish or Perish” are the words to live by in China’s science community. You have to show your worth or you are shown the door….as is your family….and their State subsidized lifestyle. So, there is an exhorbinant amount of pressure to stand out to the CCP.
2. A lot of Chinese research gets its start in some other country…is stolen…and then quickly re-worked to secure patents and accolades. However, this precludes the Chinese from the trials and tribulations of how they got to that point resulting in various errors, misrepresentations etc.
“2. A lot of Chinese research gets its start in some other country…is stolen…and then quickly re-worked to secure patents and accolades. However, this precludes the Chinese from the trials and tribulations of how they got to that point resulting in various errors, misrepresentations etc.”
Yes, exactly. The most important thing about innovation and discovery is that it usually requires one to be bold. To be a pioneer. To be a risk-taker. To think ‘outside the box’.
Sadly, these are all character attributes that WILL GET YOU KILLED in a communist country, where you are raised to be quiet, keep your head down and just ‘go with the flow’.
This is why Chinese military technology will always be the best that they can buy or steal at any given time, and generally about 5-10 years behind what the Americans and others are using.This is also the reason for them trying so hard to out-build the West and go with a ‘quantity over quality’ strategy.
Another sciencey idea crossed my mind. If their scientific papers have such a high rejection rate, what about organ transplants from their store of Uygher donors? Do they apply the same sort of ‘rigour’ when selecting donor organs? We know they cheat in every other facet of life, why not thus one.
What would we do without China? Live in a much safer, freer and more prosperous world.
Next question?
Without China? We’d eat off the tablecloth.