Re: Plagiarism and data falsification are the most common reasons for retracted publications in obstetrics and gynaecology

摘要

Plagiarism and data fabrication/falsification in research are harmful to the practice of medicine. Specifically, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) based on fabricated/falsified data have the most direct negative impact on health and health care because their results, either directly or through meta-analyses, inform clinical practice guidelines. The recent report by Chambers et al. suggested that plagiarism (22.7%) and data falsification (21.0%) were the most common reasons given for retraction in obstetrics and gynaecology. As the research did not provide a categorisation of reasons for retractions in 18 RCTs, we performed a subsequent analysis and found that, according to retraction notices and information on publisher's website, plagiarism and data fabrication/falsification accounted for 38.9% (n = 7) and 5.6% (n = 1), respectively. However, this estimation is probably underestimated given the fact that retraction notices frequently used euphemisms or did not provide any reason for retractions (27.7%, n = 5).