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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

RETRACTED: A deep learning-based ensemble for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis using facial images

  • Tayyaba Farhat ,

    Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

    tayyaba.farhat@superior.edu.pk

    Affiliations Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan, Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan

    ⨯
  • Sheeraz Akram,

    Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

    Affiliations Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan, Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan, Information Systems Department, College of Computer and Information Sciences, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    ⨯
  • Muhammad Rashid,

    Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

    Affiliation Department of Computer Science, National University of Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan

    ⨯
  • Arfan Jaffar,

    Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing

    Affiliations Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan, Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan

    ⨯
  • Sohail Masood Bhatti,

    Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing

    Affiliations Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, The Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan, Intelligent Data Visual Computing Research (IDVCR), Lahore, Pakistan

    ⨯
  • Muhammad Amjad Iqbal

    Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Validation, Writing – review & editing

    Affiliation Faculty of Information Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    ⨯

Retraction

Following the publication of this article [1] concerns were raised with the dataset used in this study. Specifically, the dataset reportedly presents photographs of children with and without autism spectrum disorder. However, this diagnosis does not appear to have been validated. In addition, it is not clear whether the legal guardians of the children included in the dataset gave consent for these images to be distributed in a public dataset or used in academic research.

In light of the concerns pertaining to the ethics and the validity of the dataset underlying the study, the PLOS One Editors retract this article [1]. PLOS regrets that these issues were not identified prior to publication.

This article [1] was republished on December 16, 2025, to remove images of children’s faces in light of the concerns that have been raised.

This article [1] was removed from the PLOS One website on December 23, 2025. The article’s Copyright and Data Availability statements were updated at the time of retraction and removal, and the removed contents are no longer offered under the Creative Commons Attribution License.

TF, SA, MR, and MAI did not agree with the retraction. AJ and SMB either did not respond directly or could not be reached.

26 Dec 2025: The PLOS One Editors (2025) Retraction: A deep learning-based ensemble for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis using facial images. PLOS ONE 20(12): e0340328. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0340328 View retraction

Citation: Farhat T, Akram S, Rashid M, Jaffar A, Bhatti SM, Iqbal MA (2025) RETRACTED: A deep learning-based ensemble for autism spectrum disorder diagnosis using facial images. PLoS One 20(4): e0321697. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321697

Editor: Noman Naseer, Air University, PAKISTAN

Received: September 4, 2024; Accepted: March 10, 2025; Published: April 22, 2025

Copyright: © 2025 Farhat et al. Due to the concerns pertaining to the ethics and the validity of the dataset underlying the study, the article contents were removed from PLOS One at the time of retraction. Readers are hereby on notice that the removed contents are not offered under the Creative Commons Attribution License; see the accompanying retraction notice for details.

Data Availability: The Data Availability statement was deleted at the time of the article’s removal. See the accompanying retraction notice for more information.

Funding: The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.