The year 2025 witnessed a significant rise in research paper retractions across multiple disciplines, countries, journals, and publishers. Using data compiled from RetractionDatabase.org, this blog post presents a detailed study of the research paper retractions in 2025.
In 2025, a total of 4,544 research papers were retracted, with China alone accounting for 40% of the total retractions, followed by India with 20%.
Our study found that the 1,041 retractions (23%) were done in the Journal of Intelligent & Fuzzy Systems.
| Total Papers retracted (2025) | 4544 |
| Subject Areas Most Affected | Computer Science and Technology, Mathematics, Data Science, Engineering |
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Countries with the highest number of retracted papers
The following countries reported the highest number of retracted publications in 2025:
| Country | Number of Retracted Papers | Percentage of Total (%) |
|---|---|---|
| China | 1,824 | 40.14% |
| India | 922 | 20.29% |
| Iraq | 490 | 10.78% |
| Saudi Arabia | 374 | 8.23% |
| Russia | 371 | 8.16% |
| United States | 297 | 6.54% |
| Pakistan | 252 | 5.55% |
| Uzbekistan | 187 | 4.12% |
| Egypt | 171 | 3.76% |
| United Kingdom | 109 | 2.40% |
| Malaysia | 104 | 2.29% |
| Turkey | 88 | 1.94% |
| South Korea | 86 | 1.89% |
| Nigeria | 63 | 1.39% |
| Vietnam | 62 | 1.36% |
| Australia | 59 | 1.30% |
| Poland | 59 | 1.30% |
| South Africa | 58 | 1.28% |
| France | 52 | 1.14% |
| Taiwan | 52 | 1.14% |
| Germany | 51 | 1.12% |
Publishers with the Most Retractions
Publisher-wise retraction data shows the following distribution:
| Publisher | Retractions |
|---|---|
| IOS Press | 1,384 |
| Springer – Nature Publishing Group | 962 |
| EDP Sciences | 679 |
| Wiley | 676 |
| Elsevier | 472 |
IOS Press recorded the highest number of retractions, followed by Springer, EDP Science,s and other publishers.
The most commonly cited reasons for the retractions include:
- Compromised Peer Review
- Concerns or Issues about Referencing and Attributions
- Concerns or Issues about Third-Party Involvement
- Investigation by Journal or Publisher
- Data Fabrication or Falsification
- Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication
- Ethical Approval and Authorship Issues
Data Source: RetractionDatabase.org
Compiled and analyzed by Dr. Sunny Sharma