JANUARY 9 — According to a recent investigation by Nature, Malaysia is ranked sixth among the "World’s Top Ten Retraction Nations”, with a retraction rate of 17.2 per 10,000 published research papers. Other "top countries” include Saudi Arabia (30.0), Pakistan (28.1), Russia (24.9), China (23.5), and Egypt (18.8).

This is not the first time Malaysia has been ranked in the "world top ten” for such academic issues. In October 2018, the journal Science reported that Malaysia ranked fifth globally among countries with retractions, with a frequency of 6.8 retractions per 10,000 papers.

A common follow-up question is likely, "Which universities contributes the most retractions?”

We can replicate Nature’s analysis by extracting data from the Scopus and Retraction Watch databases. Scopus provides annual research paper counts for each university, while Retraction Watch, the world’s largest retraction tracking database, offers the retraction number for each university. It is essential to note that although Retraction Watch may not capture all retractions, comparing the retraction rates among universities remains effective.

From the data search, Retraction Watch documented a total of 629 retracted academic articles in Malaysia, mainly due to academic misconduct such as data fabrication, image falsification, plagiarism and duplicate publication. Following the pattern of other top retraction nations, Malaysia’s "retractions per 10,000 papers” has steadily risen over the years:

2001-2005: 1

2006-2010: 60

2011-2015: 172

2016-2020: 282

2021-2023 (incomplete records): 114

Among these, the University of Malaya (UM) contributed the most retractions with 136, followed closely by Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) with 134. Other major research universities include Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) with 70 retractions, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) with 59, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) with 30, and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) with 26.

For private universities, six research-focused institutions added to retraction data, with Taylor’s University (8 retractions), Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (7), UCSI University (5), Sunway University (4), University of Nottingham Malaysia (4), and Monash University Malaysia (4).

Using Scopus data from 2013 to 2022, retraction rates for each university were calculated. Among public universities, UiTM recorded the highest retraction rate at 32.5 retractions per 10,000 papers, followed by UM at 26.2, UPM 15.1, UTM 11.9, UKM 6.8, and USM 5.5.

Six private universities have the following retraction data: Taylor’s with 17.8 retractions, UCSI with 14.9, UTAR with 11.5, Sunway with 9.4, Monash with 5.2, and Nottingham with retractions occurring before 2013, displaying a zero retraction rate.

These figures highlight several issues that demand serious attention and immediate action plans from the Ministry of Higher Education and the local academic community:

1. Escalating retraction issue: Over the past decade, there has been a worsening trend pf increasing academic misconducts among researchers and professors, resulting in a decline in the academic integrity index.

2. Impediment to the nation’s vision as an education hub: Particularly for some of our prominent universities, such academic issues are inconsistent with their esteemed academic status, significantly impacting their reputation.

3. Heightened concerns in public research universities: Comparing the data between public and private research universities, the retraction rates are 15.8 (362 retractions / 228,862 papers) for public universities and 9.0 (28 / 31,254) for private universities. This disproportionality contradicts the traditionally advantageous position of public universities, which enjoy ample research funds, state-of-the-art equipment, substantial resources etc., funded mainly by the taxpayers’ money.

News of "world top ten” paper retractions in academia cannot be taken lightly, as it may erode public confidence in science and research. For instance, the success of large-scale Covid-19 vaccination in Malaysia is partly due to the public’s confidence in scientific research and academic institutions. Over time, this confidence may be compromised if such issues are not addressed seriously by the government, particularly the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE).

There are various measures that MoHE and top management of universities can consider to address these issues:

(1) Implement reasonable KPIs for publication and emphasise qualitative considerations in scientific publications.

(2) Establish effective ethical guidelines. Prohibit gift authorship, ghostwriting or honourary authorship, and define clear criteria for authorship. Gift authorship is often found to be correlated with poor quality of papers and subsequent retractions.

(3) Foster a culture of academic integrity in academia, that values academic integrity and ethical behavior.

(4) Create a committee to monitor and evaluate paper publication. In addition to establishing ethical guidelines and promoting a culture of academic integrity, crucial aspects include monitoring and evaluating publications, along with the mandatory implementation of reward and penalty policies. This includes academic ethics and morality as criteria for performance evaluation and promotion decisions.

We anticipate these measures will bring a positive transformation in the local academic community.

* Associate Professor Dr Song Beng Kah, Monash University Malaysia

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.