IOP Publishing has retracted a total of 350 papers from two different 2021 conference proceedings because an “investigation has uncovered evidence of systematic manipulation of the publication process and considerable citation manipulation.”
A title retracting a couple of papers at once isn’t a good look. 350 across two titles is devastating to their reputations. But it should be conceded the publisher has put integrity ahead of reputation for which they should be commended. It is a ‘good’ example of why institutional should have guidance about the perils and risks of using translation software rather than experienced translators – especially when translating a translsation. We have included links to nine related items.
The papers were in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series (232 articles), and IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (118 articles), plus four editorials.
According to IOP’s Rachael Harper, head of marketing communications, 20 of the papers were listed in the Problematic Paper Screener:
Both volumes were submitted by the same conference organisers, representing the International Conference on Computing, Communication, Electrical and Biomedical Systems (ICCCEBS) 2021 and International Conference on Chemical, Mechanical and Environmental Sciences (ICCMES) 2021 respectively. Following reports from an anonymous whistleblower, along with detection of tortured phrases by the Problematic Paper Screener, we were concerned enough to launch investigations into two volumes. Our investigation has uncovered evidence of systematic manipulation of the publication process and considerable citation manipulation. There has been no reasonable explanation from the conference organisers regarding either volume as to why these issues occurred.