Research Red Flags: Paper Retractions

Below is a bar graph depicting the Top 10 countries in the world when it comes to paper retractions. My remarks:

1. I've said this before and I gladly say it again: China is NOT a model to emulate when it comes to anything, leave alone a noble profession such as the pursuit of knowledge. This is not a statement on everyone from China. I've met some fine Chinese students during my graduate school years in the US. But China as a country doesn't understand ethics - period. And we Indians know this all too well from direct experience! From the Indo-China war of 1962 when they infiltrated our territory with the slogan "Hindi - Cheeni Bhai Bhai" (Indians and Chinese are brothers) before suddenly attacking our soldiers, to what they did to Tibet, to what they are still doing on our North East border, they are known to be without any sense of right or wrong. And this shows in their research ethics too. China is simply someone to be wary of as a potential predator, nothing more than that.

2. The USA needs to course correct. They've been knowledge leaders for too long, have earned too much respect globally over the last several decades, to allow themselves to be No. 2 on this list.

3. I'm ashamed that we are in the Top 3 of this list! All our talk of the great "Indian Values" just went down the toilet, didn't it?

There is one, and only one, correct approach to research: Get onto a problem that really interests you, or a problem that you genuinely believe is important to solve, and keep at it till you have something significantly useful to say. Then, and only then, put it out as a research paper or conference presentation. Every other approach is dishonest at some level or another and belongs in the dustbin. (And stay assured: All lies eventually surface and bring shame. Far better to climb rankings steadily and solidly than try to cheat our way up and get embarrassed on the world stage like this!)

Note: Further below are the worst offenders from our country. Dig up the names and email addresses of Directors, Chancellors, Vice Chancellors and CEOs of these universities and send them love letters. Congratulate them on setting an example for our students and inspiring them to get ahead by cheating their way up instead of sustained, steady, hard work.