China orders a national census of declines

Chinese universities have until Thursday, February 15, to complete a national census of retracted scientific articles and investigations into scientific misconduct, according to reports. the magazine nature. Institutions have been ordered to send government lists of all academic articles drawn from the scientific literature, originally published in English- or Chinese-language journals, in the past three years.

According to a decision issued by the Department of Science, Technology and Informatics of the Ministry of Education on November 20, universities must also explain the reason for refusal and investigate cases of misconduct.

The government took this action in response to Mass retraction of academic articles conducted by Al-Hindawi, a subsidiary of publisher Wiley, last year, which included a large number of works with Chinese authors or co-authors. The Chinese government's warning cited in the press release said that these retractions, as well as retractions by other publishers, “adversely affected our country's academic reputation and academic environment.” nature.

analysis By nature It appears that last year Al-Hindawi issued more than 9,600 retractions, the vast majority of which – about 8,200 – had co-authors in China. Nearly 14,000 retraction notices, of which about three-quarters were Chinese by a Chinese co-author, were issued by all publishers in 2023.