K Srinivasan
NEW DELHI: This is a toppers list that should actually be lamented, not celebrated. The awful distinction of holding the top two spots in global rankings for academic research paper retractions belongs to two Indian institutions: Anna University in Chennai and Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow.
The announcement was made on June 28 by Retraction Watch, which said that its findings were based on global research retraction data.
The report revealed that Anna University topped the global list with a whopping 161 retracted papers. Lucknow’s APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University came a close second with 160 retractions, thanks to issues like manipulation of citation details and AI-generated fake citations. Universities and research institutions in the West routinely, these days, blackball and blacklist academicians, researchers, and students who indulge in this sort of grey zone activity. There is nothing likely to happen in India since there are no laws to tighten the screws.
Depressing numbers
A close second on this list is Iraq, not a university but the nation as a whole. The general perception is that Pakistan wouldn’t figure anywhere in the top ten because of its low research output. Wrong! Pakistan is actually a topper in the global list for research malfeasance relative to the number of published papers, averaging 64.1 retractions per 10,000 citable documents.
But how does it help to be pleased that Pakistan is in equally dire straits? Look at the numbers in India, and it’s enough to depress us. India contributes roughly 5 per cent of global research publications but accounts for a shocking 21 per cent of the world’s total paper retractions. In fact, the country is now synonymous with heavily quoted and loaded fake citations, false and fabricated peer reviews, and AI-generated text. It has given India global-scale embarrassment and transformed its image from an emerging scientific superpower to a primary hub for academic fabrication.
This fake factory has been in the works for a decade and a half. The first trigger was the division of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to introduce the Academic Performance Indicator (API System) in 2010. The idea was to standardise academic promotions – teachers, lecturers, and professors must publish a specific number of research papers to qualify for career advancement, tenure, and salary hikes.
When publishing research papers became mandatory, the UGC created what is now commonly referred to as the ‘publish-or-perish’ trap. The academic community largely was left with no option but to fake it to gain it.
Huge black market
What a large number of teachers and faculty members concluded was that a little bit of cheating was bearable, considering the promotions yielded long-term financial gains and the cost-benefit ratio far outweighed the tap on the conscience. What this birthed was a huge black market of predatory ‘paper mills’ that provided fake citations and fake authorship for a tidy fee.
Insiders say there are well-known WhatsApp groups where one can place an order for a ghostwritten thesis, manipulated data, or for one’s name to be added to a wholly fabricated study. With no mechanism to filter the fraudsters, the API system has been treating these fake papers as groundbreaking research and effectively rewarding institutionalised fraud.
Perhaps the most recent big-ticket example was last year’s high-profile AI innovation conclave in Delhi, where Galgotias University showcased a robotic dog named ‘Orion’, claiming it was a state-of-the-art innovation developed entirely by their internal Centre of Excellence. All the preening came to nought when social media was flooded with comments about how Orion was a mass-marketed Chinese robot (the Unitree Go2) that could easily be acquired online. Galgotias was expelled from the summit, but the damage had been done.
What it brought into scrutiny was the huge ‘patent factory’ scheme, akin to the fraud citation scheme that has brought so much disrepute to this country.
Deep structural flaw
Galgotias University’s filing of 1,089 patent applications in a single year – surpassing the combined output of all IITs – has exposed a deep structural flaw in India’s research ecosystem. Look at the audacity! Despite the staggering volume, Galgotias was not awarded a single patent.
What the investigation revealed was that these filings were engineered to take advantage of a lucrative loophole in the ranking systems and claim state subsidies that rewarded you the moment you filed a patent, without checking its antecedents or how it was achieved.
Globally, the fallout has been exceptional. Major journal databases now go through Indian submissions with a special sieve to make sure that falsehoods don’t get past them. There is stricter visa scrutiny for applications from Indian scholars. The country’s apex research body, the ANRF, has now put in place emergency disclosure rules. Unfortunately, they continue to address the symptoms rather than perform surgery on the underlying incentive structure which is responsible for the malaise in the first place.
Until quality based accountability replaces quantity-driven rewards, the cycle will persist.
When publishing research papers became mandatory, the UGC created what is now commonly referred to as the ‘publish-or-perish’ trap. The academic community largely was left with no option but to fake it to gain it
