Vol.:(0123456789)
Scien ome ics (2024) 129:2867–2882
h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/s11192-024-04992-7
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Biomedical e ac ions due omisconduc inEu ope:
cha ac e iza ion and ends in helas 20yea s
FabiánF eijedo‑Fa inas1 · Albe oRuano‑Ra ina1,2,3 · MónicaPé ez‑Ríos1,2,3 ·
JosephRoss4,5,6 · C is inaCandal‑Ped ei a1,2,3
Recei ed: 19 No embe 2023 / Accep ed: 7 Ma ch 2024 / Published online: 4 May 2024
© The Au ho (s) 2024
Abs ac
The aim was o desc ibe biomedical e ac ions and analyse hose e ac ed in 2000–2021
due o esea ch misconduc among au ho s a ilia ed wi h Eu opean ins i u ions.A c oss-
sec ional s udy was conduc ed, using Re ac ion Wa ch da abase, Jou nal Ci a ion Repo s
and PubMed as da a sou ces. Biomedical o iginal pape s, e iews, case epo s and le -
e s wi h a leas one au ho a ilia ed wi h an Eu opean ins i u ion e ac ed be ween
01/01/2000 and 30/06/2021 we e included. We cha ac e ized a es o e ime and conduc ed
an analysis on he 4 coun ies wi h he highes numbe o e ac ions: Ge many, Uni ed
Kingdom, I aly and Spain. 2069 publica ions we e iden i ied. Re ac ion a es inc eased
om 10.7 o 44.8 pe 100,000 publica ions be ween 2000 and 2020. Resea ch misconduc
accoun ed o mos e ac ions (66.8%). The easons o misconduc - ela ed e ac ions
shi ed o e ime, anging om p oblems o copy igh and au ho ship in 2000 (2.5 pe
100,000 publica ions) o duplica ion in 2020 (8.6 pe 100,000 publica ions). In 2020, he
main eason was ab ica ion and alsi ica ion in he Uni ed Kingdom (6.2 pe 100,000 pub-
lica ions) and duplica ion in Spain (13.2 pe 100,000 publica ions).Re ac ions o pape s
by au ho s a ilia ed wi h Eu opean ins i u ions a e inc easing and a e p ima ily due o
esea ch misconduc . The ype o misconduc has changed o e ime and di e be ween
Eu opeancoun ies.
Keywo ds Re ac ion· Resea ch misconduc · Scien i ic in eg i y· Publica ion e hics·
Bibliome ic analysis· Eu ope
In oduc ion
The e ac ion o scien i ic pape s has inc eased ecen ly wi h esea ch misconduc now
being he p ima y cause ins ead o hones esea ch e o s (Campos-Va ela & Ruano-
Ra ina, 2019; Fang e al., 2012; Na h e al., 2006). Al hough he e m “ esea ch mis-
conduc ” is gene ally de ined as ab ica ion, alsi ica ion, and plagia ism (FFP) (ICMJE,
2022), he e is s ong he e ogenei y conce ning esea ch in eg i y guidance on c ucial
aspec s a bo h an in e na ional and a na ional le el (Godecha le e al., 2014), including
he de ini ion o his phenomenon (Na ional Academies o Sciences, Enginee ing, and
Ex ended au ho in o ma ion a ailable on he las page o he a icle
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Medicine. Fos e ing. In eg i y in Resea ch., 2017; Resnik, 2019). Common de ini ions
may include u he iola ions o good esea ch p ac ice such as duplica ion, mislead-
ing image manipula ion; delibe a e ailu e o disclose ela ionships and ac i i ies; and
une hical beha io , such as misleading image manipula ion o ailu e o disclose con-
lic s o in e es (Li & Co nelis, 2020; Resnik e al., 2015).
Resea ch misconduc has been iden i ied as a s uc u al p oblem in esea ch (G ie-
neisen & Zhang, 2012). In his ega d, p e ious esea ch in Eu ope has shown ha a
conside able p opo ion o esea che s ha e engaged in scien i ic misconduc . An I alian
s udy ound ha 21.2% o he esea che s su eyed admi ed o some o m o miscon-
duc (Mabou Tagne e al., 2020), and e en highe a es we e ound in o he s udies ca -
ied ou in Spain (43.3%) (Candal-Ped ei a e al., 2023a, 2023b) and No way (39.5%)
(Kaise e al., 2021). In a me a-analysis o esea che su eys conduc ed in 2009 wo ld-
wide, 2% acknowledged ha ing ab ica ed da a and 33.7% in o he ques ionable p ac-
ices (Fanelli, 2009).
The inc ease in e ac ions due o scien i ic misconduc highligh s he need o es ablish
mechanisms and s a egies ha a e uly e ec i e in p e en ing, de ec ing, and e en sanc-
ioning hese une hical beha io s. In he Eu opean con ex , he e is no sup ana ional body
which supe ises esea ch in cases whe e esea ch misconduc is suspec ed. Only 14 ou o
46 coun ies ha e na ional e hics commi ees o p omo e esea ch in eg i y, and only six o
hem ha e he powe o in es iga e, bu none can ake disciplina y ac ion (Candal-Ped ei a
e al., 2021). This becomes e en mo e ele an when conside ing ha p e ious esea ch
concludes ha coun ies wi h policies egula ing scien i ic misconduc ha e a lowe likeli-
hood o ha ing publica ions e ac ed (Fanelli e al., 2015).
Mo eo e , p e ious esea ch has shown ha he coun y o o igin o au ho s is a con-
ibu ing ac o o e ac ions and scien i ic misconduc . In Po ugal and B azil, 60.1% and
55.9% o e ac ions, espec i ely, we e due o misconduc , wi h plagia ism being he p i-
ma y eason (Candal-Ped ei a e al., 2023a, 2023b). O he s udies ha e poin ed ou aud
o suspicion o aud is he main eason o scien i ic misconduc in he USA and Ge many,
meanwhile duplica ion is mo e common in China and Tu key (Fang e al., 2012). A s udy
conduc ed in B azil (S a ale e al., 2019a, 2019b) concluded ha he mos equen ype
o scien i ic misconduc was plagia ism, as did ano he s udy conduc ed in India (Elango
e al., 2019). Amos (2014) concluded ha I aly had he highes a io o e ac ions o pla-
gia ism, whe eas Finland had he highes a io o e ac ions o duplica ion. Ha ing his
in o accoun , i is impo an o moni o e ac ions and ca ego ize hem by coun y o iden-
i y issues ela ed o une hical beha io . Analyzing e ac ions is a ool o iden i y p oblems
ela ed o esea ch misconduc wi hin a pa icula coun y.
P e ious s udies ha e analysed scien i ic misconduc in Eu ope (Ma co-Cuenca e al.,
2021) o including Eu opean coun ies (Zhang e al., 2020). Ma co-Cuenca e al. ocused
only on he analysis o ab ica ion, alsi ica ion and plagia ism ound in bo h biomedi-
cal and non-biomedical pape s, while Zhang e al. included only biomedical pape s and
assigned a e ac ion eason o each a icle. Ma co-Cuenca e al. (2021) concluded ha
biomedical esea ch accoun s o he majo i y o e ac ions due o scien i ic misconduc .
Mo eo e , aud in biomedical esea ch can ha e se ious consequences (S e n e al., 2014)
as he audulen esul s a e inco po a ed in o clinical p ac ice. I is wo h no ing ha
e ac ed a icles usually ha e mul iple e ac ion easons, and analysing all o hem can
p o ide aluable in o ma ion. Howe e , o he bes o ou knowledge, no p e ious s udy has
comp ehensi ely analysed he easons o e ac ion, i.e. aking all o hem in o accoun , in
he biomedical ield. The e o e, his s udy analyzed biomedical e ac ed esea ch s udies
by Eu opean-a ilia ed au ho s om 2000 o 2021 o cha ac e ize esea ch misconduc in
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Eu ope and iden i y ends in he coun ies wi h he highes numbe o e ac ions due o
misconduc .
Me hods
S udy design andda a ex ac ion
We conduc ed a c oss-sec ional s udy o pape s which had been e ac ed o any eason
om 01/01/2000 h ough 30/06/2021 and whose co esponding au ho was a ilia ed wi h
an Eu opean ins i u ion, using Re ac ion Wa ch da abase as ou main da a sou ce (The
Re ac ion Wa ch Da abase). Fo his pu pose, we ha e used he Re ac ion Wa ch da abase.
This da abase has been used in p e ious esea ch wi h simila objec i es o ou s (Ma co-
Cuenca e al., 2021). The unc ioning o Re ac ion Wa ch was desc ibed be o e (Candal-
Ped ei a e al., 2022). In summa y, i is he mos comp ehensi e da abase on e ac ions as
i s co e age is la ge han o he da abases, such as PubMed. Re ac ion Wa ch iden i ies
e ac ions by accessing a ious sou ces and assigns causes based on e ac ion no ices,
misconduc in es iga ions, and inpu om PubPee . The las access o he Re ac ion Wa ch
da abase was on 27/09/2021. We included biomedical o iginal a icles, e iews, case
epo s and le e s. We excluded exp essions o conce n and co ec ions, pape s alling ou -
side he ield o biomedical sciences, and non- esea ch pape s, such as commen a ies and
edi o ials, as well as pape s ha had no been published in English, Spanish o Po uguese
we e excluded.
The coun y assigned o each included pape was based on he co esponding au ho ’s
a ilia ion. Fo s udy pu poses, he e m “Eu ope” was cons ued as encompassing cu en
Eu opean Union Membe S a es plus he Uni ed Kingdom, No way, Iceland, Liech ens ein,
Se bia, Tu key, Russia, Swi ze land, and Bela us.
In o de o include e ac ions pe aining o he heal h sciences, we selec ed hose ca -
ego ized as “Basic Li e Sciences (BLS)” and/o “Heal h Sciences (HSC)” in he “Subjec ”
ield o he Re ac ion Wa ch da abase and included unde he head o “Basic Li e Sciences
(BLS)” a e specialized ields, such as biology, mic obiology, oxicology, en i onmen-
al sciences, biochemis y, and i ology. The “Heal h Sciences (HSC)” ca ego y includes
all medical special ies (medical, su gical, as well as c oss-disciplina y special ies such as
pa hological ana omy and clinical analysis).
The ollowing Re ac ion Wa ch a iables we e ex ac ed o each e ac ed pape
included: i le o pape ; ype o pape (o iginal pape , sys ema ic e iew, me a-analysis,
le e , guidelines, case epo ); da e o pape publica ion and e ac ion; numbe o au ho s;
coun y o co esponding au ho ; co esponding au ho ’s a ilia ion (uni e si y, hospi al,
esea ch cen e , heal h cen e , indus y, independen ); and eason o e ac ion.
In addi ion, da a ela ing o he jou nal o publica ion (qua ile, ca ego y, Jou nal Ci a-
ion Indica o and impac ac o (IF) o he yea o publica ion) we e ex ac ed om Jou nal
Ci a ion Repo s (Cla i a e Analy ics).
Re ac ion causes we e ob ained om Re ac ion Wa ch da abase and e i ied using
publishe ’s no es. Una ailable no es we e sou ced om Re ac ion Wa ch. All he easons
ci ed by Re ac ion Wa ch, ound and labeled, we e aken in o accoun .
Fo he ca ego iza ion o he easons o e ac ion, we elied on in e na ional docu-
men s ela ed o scien i ic in eg i y and a ious p ac ices conside ed as misconduc o
unaccep able/ques ionable p ac ices by di e en o ganisms (ALLEA. The Eu opean Code
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o Conduc o Resea ch In eg i y, 2023; COPE, 2019). In his s udy, we conside bo h
p ac ices included in he adi ional de ini ion o esea ch misconduc ( ab ica ion, alsi-
ica ion, and plagia ism), as well as o he p ac ices commonly e e ed o as unaccep able
o ques ionable p ac ices. I is impo an o no e ha no dis inc ion is made in his s udy
be ween unaccep able/ques ionable p ac ices and esea ch misconduc , and we will e e o
all p ac ices unde he e m “ esea ch misconduc ”. The easons o e ac ion we e ca ego-
ized as ollows:
– No esea ch misconduc : his g oup included pape s iden i ied as ha ing a ious ypes
o e o s un ela ed wi h esea ch misconduc , as well as e ac ed pape s in which a
eason o esea ch misconduc had no been explici ly iden i ied (all kind o e o s,
such as me hod e o s, imaging e o s o cell line con amina ion, un eliable da a and/o
esul s because o e o ).
– Resea ch misconduc was classi ied in o he ollowing ca ego ies: (a) alsi ica ion/ ab-
ica ion o images, da a and/o esul s, alse pee e iew, pape mills and manipula ion
o esul s; (b) duplica ion: pape s, images o pa s o he ex published in o he jou nals
by he same au ho s, “salami slicing”, o duplica ion o da a; (c) plagia ism, whe he o
comple e pape s o pa s o hese, including ex and images; (d) p oblems wi h au ho -
ship and/o a ilia ion: p oblems o copy igh , dubious au ho ship, lack o app o al o
au ho o hi d pa y, objec ions by he company o ins i u ion, o alse au ho ship o
a ilia ion; (e) un eliable da a because o misconduc : un eliable da a o images, o igi-
nal da a no p o ided, p oblems o bias o lack o balance, o p oblems wi h da a; ( )
un eliable esul s because o misconduc ; (g) e hical and legal p oblems: b each o e h-
ics by he au ho , con lic o in e es s, lack o in o med consen , ci il o c iminal p o-
ceedings, lack o app o al by he compe en bodies; and, (h) any case in which no spe-
ci ic eason was gi en bu he Re ac ion Wa ch da abase s a ed ha he pape had been
e ac ed o “misconduc ”.
– Reason no speci ied: pape s e ac ed wi hou a speci ic eason s a ed in Re ac-
ion Wa ch da abase o he no ice o e ac ion ( hose ca ego ized as “wi hd awn” o
“ e ac ed” wi hou u he explana ion and hose s a ing “Un eliable da a” o “Un eli-
able esul s” wi hou o he eason sugges ing misconduc o no misconduc ).
We excluded wo a icles wi h “miscommunica ion by he au ho , company, ins i u ion
o jou nal” as he only eason o e ac ion, due o he impossibili y o ca ego izing hem
in he es ablished g oups.
Pape s may be associa ed wi h mo e han one eason o e ac ion. The Re ac ion
Wa ch da abase iden i ies his by associa ing each pape wi h a gi en eason o g ound.
Hence, we ook each o hese easons in o accoun independen ly, and used he o al num-
be o easons as he uni o measu e o ou analysis.
S a is ical analysis
Fi s , we pe o med a desc ip i e analysis o biomedical e ac ions in Eu ope, b oken
down by cause o e ac ion (hones esea ch e o and esea ch misconduc ), wi h he ca -
ego ical a iables being exp essed as absolu e and ela i e equencies, and he quan i a i e
a iables as median and in e qua ile ange (25 h o 75 h pe cen ile). Chi squa e es was
used o assess o di e ences be ween samples.
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Then, we excluded e ac ions due o hones esea ch e o and hose in which no spe-
ci ic eason was gi en, ocusing on e ac ions because o esea ch misconduc . To make
he compa ison be ween coun ies and yea s o a gi en eason o e ac ion, we calcula ed
he a es using he o al numbe o pape s e ac ed o ha eason di ided by he o al num-
be o pape s in ha same coun y and yea . The o al numbe o pape s assigned o each
coun y and yea was ex ac ed om PubMed, wi h he sea ch being il e ed by indi idual
coun y and yea o he s udy pe iod. To cha ac e ize he end o e ac ions o esea ch
misconduc , bo h o Eu opean coun ies o e all and o he coun ies anked highes by
numbe o e ac ions, a c oss-sec ional analysis was pe o med o e e y 5yea s. We cal-
cula ed he numbe o pape s asc ibed o each o he main easons and exp essed he esul s
by e e ence o he o al numbe o pape s as he common denomina o . Mann–Kendall es
was used o analyze he ends in e ac ions in Eu opean coun ies o e all, by main eason
o e ac ion. To conduc a yea - o-yea compa ison among coun ies and by he main ea-
sons, he end analysis was limi ed o 2020 since we do no ha e da a o he ull yea o
2021.
We desc ibed he end in misconduc - ela ed causes o e ac ion ac oss he s udy
pe iod, analyzed he main a ia ions be ween coun ies wi h a leas 10 e ac ions, and
examined he main dis inguishing pa e ns by e e ence o he co esponding au ho ’s
coun y o a ilia ion. In he esul s, de ailed in o ma ion is p o ided o he 4 coun ies
wi h he highes numbe o e ac ions, while in he supplemen a y ma e ial, da a o he
emaining coun ies wi h a leas 10 e ac ions can be accessed.
All analyses we e pe o med using he Mic oso Excel 2016 and S a a .17 s a is ics
so wa e p og ams.
E hical aspec s
The manusc ip was w i en ollowing he S eng hening he Repo ing o Obse a ional
S udies in Epidemiology (STROBE) epo ing guideline o c oss-sec ional s udies. The
s udy did no equi e ins i u ional e iew boa d app o al because i was based on publicly
a ailable in o ma ion and in ol ed no pa ien eco ds.
Resul s
We included 2069 pape s e ac ed om 01/01/2000 o 30/06/2021, by au ho s a ilia ed o
Eu opean ins i u ions iden i ied in he Re ac ion Wa ch da abase (Fig.1). The numbe o
e ac ions was 10.7 pe 100,000 publica ions in 2000 and 44.8 pe 100,000 publica ions in
2020. O e all, 1383 (66.8%) e ac ed pape s in ol ed some ype o esea ch misconduc ,
while 322 (15.6%) we e e ac ed due o hones esea ch e o . The e we e di e ences in
ype o publica ion (p < 0.001), jou nal qua ile (p = 0.002), numbe o ca ego ies in which
he jou nal is indexed (p < 0.001) and numbe o au ho s (p < 0.001) be ween he g oups
(Table1).
Causes o e ac ions due o esea ch misconduc
Among he 1383 pape s e ac ed because o esea ch misconduc , we ound 2466 easons
o e ac ion (an a icle may ha e mo e han one cause o e ac ion). Among hem, he
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mos equen easons we e duplica ion (n = 542, 22.0%) and misconduc in which no sub-
ype was speci ied (n = 386, 15.7%) (Table2).
In addi ion, he mos common causes o esea ch misconduc a ied o e ime (Fig.2).
In 2000, he main causes we e duplica ion, p oblems ela ing o au ho ship and a ilia-
ions and e hical and legal p oblems (2.5 pe 100,000 publica ions). Duplica ion emained
Fig. 1 Flow cha o sample
selec ion
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Table 1 Main cha ac e is ics o pape s e ac ed due o esea ch misconduc and hones esea ch e o
Misconduc E o Re ac ion wi hou
eason
p alue
n = 1383 %n = 322 %n = 364 %
Type o publica ion < 0.0001**
O iginal pape 1162 84.0 273 84.8 196 53.8
Re iew 144 10.4 25 7.8 153 42.0
Case epo 67 4.8 18 5.6 7 1.9
Le e 10 0.7 6 1.9 8 2.2
Numbe o au ho s < 0.0001**
1–5 786 56.8 187 58.1 257 70.6
> 5 597 43.2 135 41.9 107 29.4
Numbe o coun ies o pape s’ au ho s 0.3737
1 1148 83.0 263 81.7 305 83.8
2 190 13.7 44 13.7 50 13.7
3 32 2.3 8 2.5 8 2.2
4 o mo e 13 0.9 7 2.2 1 0.3
Jou nal qua ile 0.0020*
Q1 503 36.4 126 39.1 177 48.6
Q2 206 14.9 60 18.6 38 10.4
Q3 167 12.1 34 10.6 38 10.4
Q4 138 10.0 29 9.0 30 8.2
No IF 369 26.7 73 22.7 81 22.3
Numbe o ca ego ies in which he jou nal is indexed < 0.0001**
1 814 58.9 183 56.8 267 73.4
2 311 22.5 62 19.3 56 15.4
3 71 5.1 30 9.3 14 3.8
4 o mo e 30 2.2 8 2.5 5 1.4
Wi hou ca ego y 157 11.4 39 12.1 22 6.0
Misconduc E o Re ac ion wi hou eason
n%n%n%
Ca ego ies o he jou nal in descending o de o equency
Molecula biology and
biochemis y
136 7.6 Oncology 21 4.8 Medicine, gene al
and in e nal
136 30.6
Anes hesiology 103 5.7 Neu osciencies 19 4.3 Oncology 21 4.7
Cell biology 86 4.7 Molecula biology and
biochemis y
16 3.6 Anes hesiology 19 4.3
Mul idisciplina y sci-
ences
83 4.6 Mul idisciplina y sci-
ences
15 3.4 Su ge y 16 3.6
O he 1384 77.2 O he 370 83.9 O he 252 56.8
Coun ies
Ge many 290 21.0 Uni ed Kingdom 62 19.3 Uni ed Kingdom 146 40.1
I aly 247 17.9 Ge many 39 12.1 Ge many 58 15.9
Uni ed Kingdom 174 12.6 Spain 33 10.2 I aly 30 8.2
Spain 114 8.2 F ance 26 8.1 Spain 19 5.2
Tu key 87 6.3 Tu key 26 8.1 Tu key 18 4.9
F ance 71 5.1 I aly 25 7.8 F ance 17 4.7
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as he main cause in 2010, 2015 and 2020 (7.6, 15.3 and 8.6 pe 100,000 publica ions,
espec i ely). Ac oss he pe iod 2000 h ough 2020, a signi ican inc ease was obse ed
in alsi ica ion and/o ab ica ion (p = 0.02), going om 0.8 o 5.9 pe 100,000 publica-
ions. In he case o plagia ism, he inc ease was also signi ican (p = 0.03), and his wen
Table 1 (con inued)
* p<0.01, ** p<0.05
Table 2 Pape s e ac ed due o
any cause o esea ch misconduc
in Eu ope ac oss he s udy pe iod
(2000–2021)
Numbe o easons
o e ac ion by
ype o esea ch
misconduc
(n = 2466)
Type o esea ch misconduc n%
Duplica ion 542 22.0
Resea ch misconduc wi hou speci ica ion o
sub ype
386 15.7
Plagia ism 333 13.5
Falsi ica ion/Fab ica ion 319 12.9
Un eliable da a 304 12.3
E hical and legal p oblems 279 11.3
P oblems o au ho ship and/o a ilia ion 157 6.4
Un eliable esul s 146 5.9
Fig. 2 T end in he main causes o esea ch misconduc in Eu ope (numbe o pape s e ac ed pe 100,000
pape s)
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om 0.8/100,000 in 2000 o 27.2/100,000 publica ions in 2010, wi h a subsequen down-
u n un il 2020. In 2020, he main causes o esea ch misconduc e ac ions we e dupli-
ca ion (8.6/100,000 publica ions) and un eliable da a because o misconduc (8.4/100,000
publica ions).
Resea ch misconduc byCoun y
Fou coun ies accoun ed o he la ges numbe o e ac ed pape s du ing he s udy pe iod:
he Uni ed Kingdom, Ge many, I aly, and Spain (Table3). Falsi ica ion and/o ab ica ion
was iden i ied as he main cause o misconduc in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2020 (9.7, 3.7, 4.6
and 6.2 pe 100,000 publica ions, espec i ely). In 2015, he main cause o misconduc was
e hical and legal p oblems (8.8 pe 100,000 publica ions). In he Ge man case, duplica-
ion was he main e ac ion eason in 2000 (4.3/100,000 publica ions). In 2010 and 2015,
14.1 and 11.2 a icles pe 100,000 publica ions we e e ac ed because o alsi ica ion and/
o ab ica ion, while in 2020 his igu e ell o 0. In 2020, duplica ion and p oblems ela -
ing o au ho ship and a ilia ions we e he main causes (2.1 pe 100,000 publica ions). In
he case o Spain, alsi ica ion and/o ab ica ion and e hical and legal p oblems we e he
main causes o e ac ion in 2005 and 2010, espec i ely. In he nex yea s, he main cause
was duplica ion, going om 5.0 a icles pe 100,000 publica ions in 2015 o 13.2 in 2020.
In I aly, in 2010, e ac ions due o plagia ism accoun ed o 16.7 pe 100,000 publica ions
and in 2020 he main cause o misconduc was duplica ion, wi h 15.6 a icles pe 100,000
publica ions.
This in o ma ion can be also ound in Supplemen a y Table1 o all yea s o he se ies
o coun ies wi h 10 o mo e e ac ions.
Discussion
Ou s udy ound ha esea ch misconduc was he p ima y cause o pape e ac ion in
Eu ope om 2000 o 2021, bu he speci ic easons a ied o e ime and by coun y. This is
he i s s udy o sys ema ically analyze esea ch misconduc ac oss Eu opean ins i u ions,
aking in o accoun he expanded FFP de ini ion o e ed in his ype o s udies.
Ou indings indica e ha esea ch misconduc has become mo e p e alen in Eu ope
o e he las wo decades, e en a e adjus ing o he inc ease in he numbe o pape s pub-
lished. The easons o e ac ion due o misconduc also changed o e ime in all coun ies
s udied. Ini ially, copy igh and au ho ship issues we e he p ima y causes, bu hei p e a-
lence dec eased signi ican ly by he end o he pe iod, possibly due o he implemen a ion
o au ho ship con ol sys ems and inc eased esea che awa eness.
Since 2010, duplica ion has been he main eason o e ac ion in Eu ope. Howe e ,
he p e alence o plagia ism and duplica ion may be unde es ima ed. These esul s ag ee
wi h o he s udies which epo a highe p e alence o plagia ism as compa ed wi h o he
ypes o misconduc (Ma co-Cuenca e al., 2021; Mousa i & Abdollahi, 2020; S a ale
e al., 2019a, 2019b). While he incipien use o duplica ion de ec ion so wa e in he
ea ly 2000s was said o be he cause o an inc ease in he iden i ica ion o plagia ism (Van
Noo den, 2011), hei con inued use should ha e con ibu ed o i s decline. In he same
ein, lack o access o hese ools in low-income coun ies may explain why copy igh and
plagia ism issues emain he p ima y eason o esea ch misconduc - ela ed e ac ions in
hose egions (Rossouw e al., 2020). I is essen ial o plagia ism con ol and su eillance
2882
Scien ome ics (2024) 129:2867–2882
1 3
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2014. 891943
Re ac ion Wa ch (n.d.). Re ac ion Wa ch: T acking e ac ions as a window in o he scien i ic p ocess.
h ps:// e a c ion wa ch. com/
Rossouw, T. M., Ma sau, L., & an Zyl, C. (2020). An analysis o e ac ed a icles wi h au ho s o co-
au ho s om he A ican Region: Possible implica ions o aining and awa eness aising. Jou nal o
Empi ical Resea ch on Human Resea ch E hics, 15(5), 478–493. h ps:// doi. o g/ 10. 1177/ 15562 64620
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S a ale, R., Fe ei a, G. I., Gal ao, J. A. M., Zicke , F., No aes, M., Oli ei a, C. M., & Guilhem, D. (2019a).
Resea ch misconduc in heal h and li e sciences esea ch: A sys ema ic e iew o e ac ed li e a u e
om B azilian ins i u ions. PLoS ONE, 14(4), e0214272. h ps:// doi. o g/ 10. 1371/ jou n al. pone. 02142
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S a ale, R., Fe ei a, G. I., Gal ao, J. A. M., Zicke , F., No aes, M. R. C. G., de Oli ei a, C. M., & Guilhem,
D. (2019b). Resea ch misconduc in heal h and li e sciences esea ch: A sys ema ic e iew o e ac ed
li e a u e om B azilian ins i u ions. PLoS ONE. h ps:// doi. o g/ 10. 1371/ jou n al. pone. 02142 72
S e n, A. M., Casade all, A., S een, R. G., & Fang, F. C. (2014). Financial cos s and pe sonal consequences
o esea ch misconduc esul ing in e ac ed publica ions. eLi e, 3, e02956. h ps:// doi. o g/ 10. 7554/
eLi e. 02956
Van Noo den, R. (2011). Science publishing: The ouble wi h e ac ions. Na u e, 478(7367), 26–28.
h ps:// doi. o g/ 10. 1038/ 47802 6a
Zhang, Q., Ab aham, J., & Fu, H. (2020). Collabo a ion and i s in luence on e ac ion based on e ac ed
publica ions du ing 1978–2017. Scien ome ics, 125, 19. h ps:// doi. o g/ 10. 1007/ s11192- 020- 03636-w
Publishe ’s No e Sp inge Na u e emains neu al wi h ega d o ju isdic ional claims in published maps and
ins i u ional a ilia ions.
Au ho s and A ilia ions
FabiánF eijedo‑Fa inas1 · Albe oRuano‑Ra ina1,2,3 · MónicaPé ez‑Ríos1,2,3 ·
JosephRoss4,5,6 · C is inaCandal‑Ped ei a1,2,3
* Albe o Ruano-Ra ina
albe o. [email p o ec ed]
1 Depa men o P e en i e Medicine andPublic Heal h, School o Medicine, Uni e si y o San iago
de Compos ela, San iagodeCompos ela, Galicia, Spain
2 Conso ium o Biomedical Resea ch inEpidemiology andPublic Heal h (CIBER de
Epidemiología y Salud Pública-CIBERESP), Mad id, Spain
3 Heal h Resea ch Ins i u e o San iago de Compos ela (Ins i u o de In es igación Sani a ia de
San iago de Compos ela-IDIS), San iagodeCompos ela, Spain
4 Sec ion o Gene al In e nal Medicine, Depa men o In e nal Medicine, Yale School o Medicine,
NewHa en, CT, USA
5 Depa men o Heal h Policy andManagemen , Yale School o Public Heal h, NewHa en, CT,
USA
6 Cen e o Ou comes Resea ch andE alua ion, Yale-New Ha en Heal h Sys em, NewHa en, CT,
USA
