Research retractions are an important indicator of problems within the academic publishing ecosystem. In this study, we analyze publicly available data from the Retraction Watch Database to examine the scale, trends, and underlying causes of retracted research papers from India.
The objective is not intended to harm any institution’s reputation, but to raise awareness and initiate informed discussion around policy and incentive reforms in Indian research.
Our study found that a total of 5,874 research papers have been retracted in India till now.
This post aims to raise awareness of the issues affecting Indian research based on publicly available data and call for Policy Change. We do not intend to harm the reputation of any institute.
4,500+ Research Papers Were Retracted in 2025: Countries, Journals, and Causes
Scale of Retractions in India
India has recorded a total of 5,874 retracted research papers. The Year-wise distribution of retracted papers is presented below in the form of a table and a graph. 1213 research papers were retracted in the year 2022.
The sharp rise after 2021 is particularly concerning.
In 2025, a total of 4,544 research papers were retracted, and 20% of the total were from India.
| Year | Number of Retracted Papers |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 161 |
| 2017 | 125 |
| 2018 | 197 |
| 2019 | 190 |
| 2020 | 221 |
| 2021 | 313 |
| 2022 | 1,213 |
| 2023 | 877 |
| 2024 | 953 |
| 2025 | 923 |
Common Reasons for Retractions
The most commonly cited reasons for these retractions include:
- Compromised or manipulated peer review
- Investigations by journals or publishers
- Rogue editors
- Unreliable results or conclusions
- Author unresponsiveness
- Concerns related to data, images, or methods
- Ethical violations by authors
- Plagiarism (text, data, or images)
- Computer-generated or AI-assisted content without disclosure
- Lack of IRB/IACUC approval
- Authorship or affiliation disputes
- Errors in data or methodology
Universities with High Retraction Counts
The following institutions appear frequently in retraction data. University counts include constituent colleges, regional campuses, and all affiliated colleges.
| University | Number of Retracted Papers |
|---|---|
| Saveetha Institute | 277 |
| Anna University | 191 |
| Lovely Professional University | 156 |
| GLA University | 82 |
| Chandigarh University | 78 |
| Amity University | 56 |
It is important to emphasize that these universities also publish a very large volume of research papers, which naturally increases exposure to scrutiny and retractions. Hence, retraction counts alone do not measure research quality.
This analysis highlights the urgent need for reforms, including:
- Shifting from quantity-based to quality-based research evaluation
- Strengthening peer-review integrity
- Transparent use and disclosure of AI tools
- Rethinking ranking frameworks
Source: Retraction Watch Database