KUALA LUMPUR – It is not that alarming for Malaysia to be ranked sixth in the list for journal retraction as it only affects 17 publications for every 10,000 published, said Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapha Sakmud (Sepanggar-PH).
“Of the statistics, only 17.2% out of 10,000 published articles were involved with the retraction controversy. Despite being ranked sixth on the list, in terms of numbers, it may not be that alarming,” he said in response to a supplementary question by Tan Hong Pin (Bakri-PH) in Dewan Rakyat here today.
“In terms of the process, before publishing, we will first filter the article before submitting it for peer review. If anything crops up, for instance, like in UPM (University Putra Malaysia), then the article will be returned.”
According to a December analysis by multidisciplinary science journal Nature, it found that for every 10,000 research papers published in Malaysia, 17.2% have been retracted – which is three times higher than the average rate for all the countries listed.
Topping the list is Saudi Arabia, with a retraction rate of 30.6%, followed by Pakistan (28.1%), Russia (24.9%), China (23.5%), Egypt (18.8%), Iran (16.7%) and India (15.2%).
According to Nature, the articles that were retracted due to “concerns of the review processed by individuals and the level of understanding of the researchers have been compromised” and “manipulation of the systematic publication and review process”.
Meanwhile, Mustapha said the ministry issued a circular dated July 13, 2023, to prohibit government funds from being used to pay certain publishers.
In January, UPM defended the research by two of its academicians on Malay maritime history, which was slammed by some quarters for wrongly attributing ancient Chinese vessels with Malay origins.
“It must be considered that the social sciences and humanities are open to interpretation for various meanings, and this is a good practice for research, for the purpose of improvements,” it said in a statement.
The public-funded university, which is under the purview of the Higher Education Ministry, was defending the research titled The Jongs and the Galleys: Traditional Ships of the Past Malay Maritime Civilisation, which recently took social media by storm because of its perceived inaccuracies. – March 18, 2024