New Delhi: A large number of research papers have been flagged as retracted in this year’s ongoing National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) rankings assessment, prompting intense scrutiny of higher education institutions by the government, ThePrint has learnt.
The process has also delayed the release of this year’s rankings, which are, otherwise, announced between August and September.
In last year’s NIRF assessment process, the institutions were, for the first time, penalised over retracted research papers with deduction of marks from their publication and citation scores. The retraction data was taken from third-party databases.
According to global research watchdog Retraction Watch, India recorded 887 research paper retractions in 2025, making it the country with the second-highest retractions in the world, behind only China (1,701).
The NIRF did not publicly disclose how many institutions were negatively marked for retracted papers in 2025 rankings, or how many retractions were counted for the penalties.
The National Board of Accreditation (NBA), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education that conducts the rankings annually, is now considering debarring repeat offenders from future NIRF rankings, sources said.
ThePrint has reached out to the NBA for an official comment via email. This report will be updated as and when a response is received.
“There are a large number of cases of retracted research papers flagged this year, and the NBA is scrutinising them. Institutions are being warned, and negative marking will be applied in the assessment process and the rankings,” a senior government official told ThePrint.
“A clear message was sent last year that there is no space for plagiarism, research misconduct, or fake or manipulated peer review. This year, the NIRF ranking process is very strict on this and is planning to debar repeated offenders from next year,” the official added.
The research publications are attributed to institutions based on the affiliations of their researchers and faculty members.
Why are research papers retracted?
The retraction of research papers has been a major issue in the Indian academic ecosystem. According to Retraction Watch, in 2023, India was behind only China and the US with 2,737 retractions. Data shows that retractions in India jumped 2.5 times between 2020 and 2022, compared to 2017 and 2019.
A retraction means formal withdrawal of a published research paper by a journal from the scientific record because its findings, data or publication process are considered unreliable or compromised.
The papers can be retracted for various reasons, ranging from plagiarism and fabricated or manipulated data, to duplicate publication, ethical violations and fake or manipulated peer review.
Importantly, not every retraction indicates deliberate misconduct. Some papers are withdrawn because of genuine errors or flaws in the research.
In February 2025, an analysis published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature showed that retractions from certain Indian institutes had visibly increased over the last five years.
The 2025 NIRF framework introduced a negative-marking system for retracted publications, deducting marks from institutions’ publication and citation scores based on number of retracted papers and citations.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
