US scientists are considerably more likely to publish fake research than scientists from elsewhere, according to a study published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics. The journal is co-owned by the Institute of Medical Ethics (IME) and BMJ Group.
The study author searched the PubMed database for scientific research papers that had been retracted between 2000 and 2010. It was found that a total of 788 papers had been retracted during this period. About three quarters of these papers had been withdrawn because of a serious error (545). The rest of the retracted papers were attributed to data fabrication or falsification, the study found. Further, the study noted that the highest number of retracted papers was written by US first authors, accounting for one third of the total. One in three of these was attributed to fraud.
The UK, Japan, China and India each had more than 40 papers withdrawn during the decade. Asian nations, including South Korea, accounted for 30 percent of retractions. Of these, one in four was attributed to fraud.
According to the study, the fakes were more likely to appear in leading publications with a high 'impact factor'. It noted that 53 percent of the faked research papers had been written by a first author who was a 'repeat offender'. Such a case was found in one in five (18 percent) of the flawed papers. Each first author who was a repeat fraudster had an average of six co-authors, each of whom had had another three retractions.
The average number of authors on all retracted papers was three, but some had 10 or more. Faked research papers were significantly more likely to have multiple authors, the study noted.
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