. Over the last few years, the number of Indian researchers finding a mention on the Retraction Watch has seen a sharp spike. And many of these scientists in the global “wall of shame” are associated with prestigious government institutes. https://theprint.in/ground-reports/indias-research-crime-is-getting-worse-scientists-are-gaming-peer-review-system/2261884/
India is now wrestling with a research fraud “crisis.” Data shows that retractions from India jumped 2.5 times between 2020 and 2022 compared to 2017 and 2019. The reasons range from plagiarism to editorial conflicts to involvement in international research papermills.
The trend has become so glaring that international watchdogs and research sleuth communities are flagging India as one of the top producers of “low-quality and fraudulent” research. In 2023, India was behind only China and the US with 2,737 retractions, according to the Retraction Watch Database.
One such case involves Abhijit Dey, an associate professor of life sciences at Kolkata’s Presidency University. He has had at least six of his papers retracted, spanning bewilderingly diverse fields such as virology, chemistry, plant biology, and pharmacology.
Colleagues point out that Dey’s “research crimes” include plagiarism, citation manipulation, and fudging images used in his papers.
“The problem is that despite having such major allegations against these scientists, they continue to enjoy their position and perks. This is because we do not have stringent guidelines on how to deal with academic fraud,” said a senior scientist from Banaras Hindu University, tasked with investigating academic misconduct.
“Many of these scientists run in close quarters with their institutes’ administration, so it becomes convenient to turn a blind eye to such wrongdoings,” he added. “Institutes need to set up better quality control for research that comes from their scientists.”
by Soumya Pillai
11/09/2024