Content by Retraction Watch

Research misconduct findings dropped sharply in 2025, prompting scrutiny of ORI leadership turnover and staffing cuts.

A research misconduct case at the University of Melbourne exposed unethical authorship, led to retractions, and cost a PhD student his scholarship and a job offer.

Identity theft is on the rise in academia. Fake authorships, fraudulent emails, and AI-generated data are putting researchers’ reputations at risk.

From forged acceptance letters to fake DOIs, a publishing scam put Iraqi students and their degrees at risk. The fraudster? A university professor.

A paper about a man with a heart in his abdomen was plagiarized from an April Fool’s joke. Now, it and five other papers by the same authors have been retracted.

From typo-laden code in psychedelics research to paper mills and plagiarism, we look back on some of the most notable retractions in scientific publishing this year.

From Star Trek to ivermectin, we look back on some of the most notable about-faces in publishing this year.

The Retraction Watch team takes a look at the most important publishing mistakes this year.

A journal is forced to remove a record-breaking number of papers—and all in one go.

The microbiologist has turned her attention full-time to unearthing problematic figures in papers—for free.

From a self-sampling scientist to the downfall of a leading stem cell scientist, here’s our naughty list.

An investigation finds 20 papers by Santosh Katiyar, who studied alternative treatments for cancer, include image manipulation.

The scientists involved have hired lawyers to fight the conclusions of a recent investigation into some studies of Diovan in Japan.

Making the list: a journal breaks a retraction record, Nobel laureates Do the Right Thing, and Seinfeld characters write a paper 

A look at this year’s most memorable retractions