Retracted Publications from Saudi Arabian Institutions: An Analysis of 2006-2025

The objective of this study was to scrutinize the retracted publications from Saudi Arabian institutions. From four search engines-www.pubmed.gov, https://www.scopus.com, Web of Science, and the Retraction Watch Database (https://retractiondatabase.org)-retracted publications from Saudi Arabia between 2006 and 2025 were downloaded. Saudi Arabia ranks fourth in terms of retracted publications (1541) as per the extracted data, the first three being China (18848), India (2621), USA (1552). During 2006-2025, Saudi Arabian institutions published 590,529 articles with 2,155 retractions. The top three universities with retracted publications were King Saud University (367), Taif University (172), and King Khalid University (123). This study demonstrates that articles continue to be retracted due to insincerity, data falsification and fabrication, and errors in data analysis, leading to unreliable results. All stakeholders in the field must collaborate to strengthen integrity among researchers, institutional review boards, and in-house monitoring, ensuring vigilance and timely intervention.