Why Iranian Biomedical Articles Are Retracted?

Retraction of articles occurs as a result of scientific misconducts or honest errors. The present study aimed to examine retracted articles on PubMed database written by Iranian authors in biomedicine.
In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all retracted articles on PubMed database written by Iranian authors were retrieved using the following keywords; Iran [AD] AND "Retracted Publication"[PT]. The following data were extracted based on a specific form: first and last names of the first author, publication year, journal name, country of publication, number of citations, and retraction notices. Then, retraction notices were examined and the reasons for retraction were categorized.
In total, there were 145 retracted articles, showing a rise in recent years. However, the ratio of retracted articles to all articles was not increased. Plagiarism (46.90%), compromised peer review (40%), and duplicate publication (19.31%) were the most important reasons for retraction. Over 80% of articles (118 articles) were retracted due to scientific misconduct. More than 32% of all articles (47 articles) were published in three journals. The largest number of articles pertained to biochemistry and molecular biology (25 articles), pharmacology and pharmacy (24 articles), and oncology (21 articles).
It is essential that the reasons for scientific misconduct be identified and proper education be offered to students and researchers. These behaviors can be avoided by empowering researchers by attending in writing and research ethics training while penalizing those who misconduct.