The PLOS One Editors issue this Expression of Concern to inform readers that we have concerns about this article’s [1] peer review, and about conclusion statements referring to causative (as opposed to correlative) relationships that overreach what is supported by the reported research.
In addition, please note that Reference 35 [2] was retracted after this article [1] was published.
References
- 1. Alam I, Shichang L, Muneer S, Alshammary KM, Zia Ur Rehman M. Does financial inclusion and information communication technology affect environmental degradation in oil-producing countries? PLoS ONE. 2024;19(3):e0298545. pmid:38507420
- 2. Zia-ur-Rehman M, Latif K, Mohsin M, Hussain Z, Baig SA, Imtiaz I. How perceived information transparency and psychological attitude impact on the financial well-being: mediating role of financial self-efficacy. Buss Proj Manag J. 2021;27(6):1836–53.
Citation: The PLOS One Editors (2025) Expression of Concern: Does financial inclusion and information communication technology affect environmental degradation in oil-producing countries? PLoS One 20(5): e0323862. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323862
Published: May 1, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 The PLOS One Editors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.