Yazgı Beriy Altun Güzelderen

ABSTRACT

Postmortem of Retracted Scientific Publications Form Turkey

Dr. Fahad Ahmed

Dr. Yazgı Beriy Altun Güzelderen

Dr. Sefik Yurdakul

Ankara Yıldrım Beyazıt University

Background:
Not all manuscripts that are accepted and published by scientific journals are retained their status as published articles but some of them are retracted after publication. There are various reasons for retraction that are usually grouped into a scientific error such as statistical flaws and research misconducts such as plagiarism. These days the number of scientific publications is the crucial factor of career advancements and a source of respect in the scientific community. To attain these, the focus of researchers is towards increasing the number of publications per year and this sometimes compromises the quality of publications. The retraction after publication is not the only issue for the reputation of the author and co-authors but it also affects the reputation of the institution.
Aim:
The current study aimed to investigate the characteristics of retracted publications in the scientific database that were contributed by Turkish authors.
Methods:
We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases to identify retracted publications. The search strategies were based on a combination of MeSH terms and other free words relevant to “retracted publication” and “Turkey.” The databases were searched on June 23rd October 2021. There were no restrictions on the search period. The inclusion criteria were (i) retracted publication and (ii) any authors of the study having affiliation with an institution in Turkey. We screened titles, authors' affiliations, and abstracts of search results. Bibliographic information of selected publications was extracted in Microsoft Excel 2016.
Result:
Our search retrieved a total of 147 publications from all three databases after removing duplicates and irrelevant studies. The oldest retracted article contributed by the Turkish author/s was published in 1996, thereafter an increasing trend of retracted publication was evident. Regarding access to full-text status, 106 (72.1%) of full-texts were available. Overall 127 scientific journals have published these articles. Biochemical Genetics was the top journal with five publications. From the institutional point of view, Hacettepe University was the lead institute, contributing seven papers. The most common reasons for retractions were duplication 50 (34%) and most retracted notices have been issued by editor-in-chief 63 (42.9% papers). The majority of publications were from Medical Science 93 (63.3% paper). Among the Medical Science publications, the highest number, 44 were from surgery and allied. Turkish authors had international collaborations with 20 countries. Eight papers have international collaborations with researchers from Iran. Only 10 of the retracted publication have received funding. The five of the first authors have received more than one retracted publication. Citation analysis of retracted publications indicates that the median number of citations was two (IQR 0-7). The minimum time lag between publication and retraction was less than one year and the maximum was 13 years.
Conclusion:
The publish or perish pressure in academia sometimes leads to intentional and unintentional research misconduct. Although the number of retracted pub

BIO

Dr. Yazgı Beriy Altun Güzelderen is MD and working as a research assistant and post-graduate fellow at the Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University.