Analysis over the past nearly two decades has found that the problem of scientific paper retractions in China is quite serious, ranking fourth globally, with about 23.5 papers retracted for every 10,000 papers published.

When reviewing the phenomenon of scientific paper retractions worldwide, it is clear that the number of retractions has been steadily climbing, especially in the case of China. In 2023, the number of research paper retractions worldwide reached an unprecedented peak of 10,000. An analysis by academic publishing intelligence experts shows that ten years ago, for every 10,000 scientific papers published globally, 3.5 papers were retracted. By 2022, this number had risen to 11.2, nearly three times the figure from before. Among the numerous retraction incidents, the number of cases involving Chinese authors is particularly staggering.

A professional analysis has indicated that if data on retracted papers by Chinese authors, journal misconduct, and a handful of prolific retractors are excluded, the global retraction rate has barely changed compared to 2014. This clearly suggests that the increase in retraction rates in China is particularly prominent.

In the realm of academic publishing, the rapid expansion of China's scholarly output has turned the country into one that is both flourishing and fraught with peril. Over the last decade, China's scientific research efforts have been vigorous, making it the country with the highest publication volume in the world. In 2022, papers authored by Chinese researchers accounted for over a quarter of the global total, representing a 50% increase from 2014. However, concurrently, the number of paper retractions in China has seen an alarming increase, with the retraction rate surging from four per 10,000 in 2014 to twenty-eight per 10,000 in 2022; more than half of the paper retractions worldwide came from China.

Excluding the data from China, in the last three years, the average retraction rate for other countries was only 5.9 per 10,000, less than a quarter of China's.

It is important to note that not all of China's scientific disciplines have such high rates of retraction. The situation is particularly dire in the biomedical field; between 2020 and 2022, China's retraction rate in biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology reached 113 per 10,000.

In fields such as chemistry, energy, mathematics, earth and planetary sciences, physics and astronomy, and materials science, the retraction rate for Chinese authors was below 0.5%, half of the global average retraction rate during the same period. Research shows that if China could reduce its retraction rate by half in the fields of biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, the global average retraction rate would decrease by 14%.

In recent years, with changes in the scientific environment and the scaling of the academic publishing industry, so-called "paper mills" have begun to emerge in large numbers. These organizations adept at creating fake papers generate a large volume of articles through transactions, data fabrication, and even plagiarism, ensuring that these articles are accepted and published by academic journals. They offer services like "authorship deals" and "guaranteed publication," thereby obtaining financial benefits. The community of clinical doctors in China is one such significant group of customers.

A study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) in 2022 showed that since 2017, there has been a sharp increase in the number of paper retractions due to paper mill issues, with a subsequent decrease after 2020. Among these retraction cases, 96.8% originated from China, and 76.9% of the lead authors were affiliated with hospitals. Media reports indicate that as early as 2015, China had already seen the emergence of a systematic industry for medical title publication, including intermediaries acting as a "bridge" between doctors and journals to negotiate the timing and placement of articles, and charging fees in the process.

Of course, retraction issues are not limited to China. The analysis pointed out that "retraction habitual offenders" should also be held responsible for the rising rate of retractions in the scientific community. Between 2014 and 2022, the number of authors with more than 10 retractions increased from 89 to 330. Among them, three Japanese scholars have attracted attention with their astonishing record of retractions: anesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii, Hironobu Ueshima, and orthopedic medical scientist Yoshihiro Sato were responsible for nearly a quarter of Japan's retractions, each with more than 100 retractions.