Paper retraction: Fraud and plagiarism accounted for 28.6 and 59.2% of women and men-authored retractions, respectively

Retraction according to gender: a descriptive study. Evelyne Decullier & Hervé Maisonneuve. Accountability in Research, Oct 7 2021. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2021.1988576

Abstract: Although the underrepresentation of women in publication is a proven fact, there is no information on its counterpart: retractions. Using a previously studied cohort of retractions, the gender of the first author was checked manually to see if there was a similar pattern in the reasons for retraction for women and men authors. Out of 120 retractions, gender was identified for 113 (94.2%). A total of 42 (37.2%) retractions concerned publications authored by women and the reasons for retraction were significantly different between men and women authors. Overall, fraud and plagiarism accounted for 28.6 and 59.2% of women and men-authored retractions, respectively. These findings may have implications as regards training in responsible conduct in research; however, without further investigating larger cohorts and a better understanding of underlying mechanisms, it would be premature to draw any firm conclusions at this stage.

Keywords: Misconduct – retraction- gender