Analysis of Retracted Articles in the Field of Immunology: A Scientometric Study

The volume of Retracted articles in all fields have increased significantly in recent years. Retracted publications in medical field may endanger the health of patients and also cause disturbances in the decisions of specialists. Immunology is one of the most important branches of medicine, so this study is conducted to investigate the reasons for retraction and analyze retracted articles of immunology.

This scientometric study was done in 2023 on the retracted articles of immunology. The data were obtained from the Web of Science database and were analyzed by R4.2.2, Biblioshiny software, Also, the Retraction Watch database has been used to identify the reasons for retractions.

The findings showed that the retracted articles of immunology have been increased significantly in recent years. From the 240 retracted publications of immunology available in the WoS database. The largest number of retracted articles were published by “Journal of Immunology” and “UNIV TEXAS” among institutions. The USA contributed the most in producing such articles. The most keywords of retracted articles were expression and activation. 72 immunology journals have published retracted papers on Web of Science, most of these articles were in quartile 2 journals. The main reason for retracting articles was “Investigation by Company/Institution”.

Reviewing the reasons for retracting articles gives important information to editors and editorial boards of journals, authors and experts to avoid similar cases. Research ethics guidelines help researchers in producing and publishing authentic articles, so it’s recommended that authors be aware of the contents of ethical guidelines.