Fig 1.
The selection process of retracted articles from the Retraction Watch Database.
Fig 2.
The trend of retraction rate in China over time.
Note: The number of publications with Chinese authors each year was obtained from Scopus. The retraction rate is the ratio of the number of retracted articles to the total number of publications.
Fig 3.
Spatial distribution of the number of retracted articles and the number of the major research institutes across China’s 31 provinces from 2012 to 2023.
Note: According to the definitions provided by National Bureau of Statistics, all provinces were categorized into four regions: the East, the West, the Central and the Northeast. The point of interest (POI) datasets regarding the number of major research institutions, including both research institutes and institutions of higher learning, were obtained from Google Maps in June 2023.
Fig 4.
Spatial trend analysis of retraction numbers across the 31 provinces of China from 2012 to 2023.
Note: The X-axis and Y-axis represent longitude and latitude, and the Z-axis represents the number of retracted articles in each year. The green line represents the east-west direction, and the blue line represents the north-south direction. A point (X, Y, Z) in the three-dimensional space represents the number of retracted articles in a certain research area. Twelve-Year Period: 2012–2023.
Table 1.
Global spatial autocorrelation analysis of the retraction count across 31 provinces in China.
Table 2.
Local spatial autocorrelation analysis of the retraction counts in the 31 provinces of China.
Table 3.
Getis-Ord Gi * analysis results of retracted articles from 31 provinces in China.