by A genetics journal from a leading science publisher has retracted 17 papers from China, in what is thought to be the biggest pullback of academic research over human rights concerns.
The articles were published in Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine (MGGM), a genetics journal published by the US academic publishing company Wiley. The papers were retracted on February 12 following an agreement between the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Suzanne Hart, and the publishing company. In a review process that took more than two years, the investigators found “inconsistencies” between the research and the consent documents provided by the researchers.
The papers from various scientists are based on research that draws on DNA samples collected from Chinese populations. In some cases, the researchers used samples from populations considered by experts and human rights campaigners to be vulnerable to exploitation and oppression in China, leading to concerns that they would not be able to freely consent to take such examples.
Related: An academic paper based on Uyghur genetic data raised more ethical concerns
Many researchers are involved with public security authorities in China, which leaves “any notion of free informed consent” said Yves Moreau, an engineering professor at the University of Leuven, in Belgium, who focuses on DNA analysis. Moreau first raised concerns about the papers with Hart, MGGM’s editor-in-chief, in March 2021.
One retracted paper studies the DNA of Tibetans in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, using blood samples collected from 120 people. The article stated that “all individuals provided written informed consent” and that the work was approved by the ethics committee of Fudan University.
But the retraction notice published Monday stated that an “ethical review “revealed inconsistencies between the consent documents and the reported research; the documentation was not sufficiently detailed to resolve the concerns raised”.
Xie Jianhui, the corresponding author of the study, is from the Department of Forensic Medicine at Fudan University in Shanghai. Xie did not respond to a request for comment, but the retraction notice says that Xie and her co-authors did not agree to the retraction.
Some of Xie’s co-authors are affiliated with the public security authorities in China, including the Tibetan public security authorities. Tibet is considered one of the most closely watched and monitored regions in China. In Human Rights Watch’s latest annual report, the campaign group said the authorities “impose severe restrictions on the freedoms of religion, speech, movement and assembly”.
Another of the retrospective studies used blood samples from 340 Uyghur people in Kashgar, a city in Xinjiang, to study the genetic links between them and Uyghurs from other regions. The scientists said the data would be a resource for “forensic DNA and population genetics”.
All the retracted papers were published between 2019 and 2021. In 2021, after Moreau raised concerns about the papers in MGGM, eight of the journal’s 25 editors resigned. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Hart, remained in her post. Neither Hart nor MGGM responded to a request for comment.
MGGM is considered by some to be a middle-class genetics publication. It has an impact factor of 2.473, which places it roughly in the top 40% of journals. It is considered a relatively easy forum to publish, which could be a draw for Chinese researchers looking to publish in English-language journals, said David Curtis, professor of genetics at University College London. Curtis resigned as editor-in-chief of Annals of Human Genetics, another Wiley journal, after the publisher vetoed a call to consider boycotting Chinese science over ethical concerns, including those related to DNA collection.
MGGM says its scope is human, molecular and medical genetics. He mainly publishes studies on the medical applications of genetics, such as a recent paper on genetic disorders associated with hearing loss. The sudden pivot toward publishing forensic genetics research from China came as other forensic genetics journals began to face more scrutiny for publishing research based on DNA samples from vulnerable minorities in China, Moreau said. He argues that it may have pushed more controversial research towards middle-class journals such as MGGM that do not specialize in forensic genetics.
On its information page, MGGM states that it “does not evaluate studies involving forensic genetic analysis”. That caveat was added in 2023, following an editorial review of the journal’s aims.
In recent years there has been increasing scrutiny of research using DNA or other biometric data from individuals in China, particularly those from vulnerable populations. In 2023, Elsevier, a Dutch academic publisher, retracted an article based on blood and saliva samples from Uyghur and Kazakh people living in Xinjiang, a region in northwestern China where there are also widespread reports of human rights abuses.
Wiley’s retractions come days before a Chinese government deadline requiring universities to submit lists of all academic articles retracted in the past three years. According to an analysis by Nature, nearly 14,000 retraction notices were published last year, three-quarters of which involved a Chinese co-author.
A spokesman for Wiley said: “We are continuing to learn from this situation, and collaboration with international colleagues is valuable in developing our policies.
“Investigations involving multiple papers, stakeholders and institutions require significant effort, and often involve time delays in coordinating and analyzing information across all stakeholders, as well as transferring material. We recognize that this takes a significant amount of time but we always aim to act as quickly as possible.”
In recent years, China has overtaken the EU and the US in terms of total research output, and its research impact is catching up with that of the US as well.
