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IMPACT OF CULTURAL CONTEXT ON RETRACTION IN SOCIAL SCIENCES. A CASE STUDY BASED ON THE RETRACTION WATCH DATABASE
Tomasz KUBALICA1, Michał ŁYSZCZARZ2, Radosław SIEROCKI3
Publication language: English
scientific paper
Guests Editors of the Issue Tomasz Herudziński, Wojciech Mincewicz
Transformations No. 4(127)2025, Publication date: 30 December 2025
Keywords: retraction, social sciences, Retraction Watch Database, Publication Ethics, culture context
Abstract The paper explores the process of retraction scientific papers in social sciences between 2001 and 2021, based on data from the Retraction Watch Database. The research used hierarchical cluster analysis using the agglomerative method (Ward's method). The social sciences have been significantly underrepresented in retraction research its results can be considered incomplete or inadequate. The article offers statistical evidence that retraction constitutes a complex and dynamic processes combining science, technology and society in their interactions. Our research challenges the long-held assumption that scientific development leads to global unification. Instead, we argue that cultural differences led to discrepancies in scientific integrity, one factor of which is article retractions. Our cluster analysis allowed us to distinguish five characteristic clusters closely related to Western countries, China and Russia.
Institute of Philosophy University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0001-7585-7138
E-mail: tomasz.kubalica@us.edu.pl
Institute of Political Sciences, Chair of Sociology University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-9200-3123
E-mail: michal.lyszczarz@interia.pl
Institute of Political Sciences, Chair of Sociology Universi-ty of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-6301-4237
E-mail: radoslaw.sierocki@uwm.edu.pl