Deputy higher education minister Mustapha Sakmud said only 17.2 out of every 10,000 Malaysian research papers published were retracted, which does not warrant significant concern.

“As I mentioned earlier, we have made efforts to ensure our researchers and their work are screened as thoroughly as possible, especially at the university level,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

“Journals undergo screening at the university level before publication. They are also screened by journal publishers upon submission. They have their own people to do so.”

Mustapha was responding to a supplementary question from Tan Hong Pin (PH-Bakri) who queried whether factors such as the academic environment’s lack of autonomy had contributed to Malaysia’s sixth-place ranking for academic paper retractions.

Earlier this year, Universiti Putra Malaysia academics Rozita Che Rodi and Hashim Musa were accused of misrepresenting Malay maritime history in academic journal “The Jongs and The Galleys: Traditional Ships of The Past Malay Maritime Civilization”.

The journal was published in the International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol 13, Issue 11, 2023.

Mustapha also said a special committee comprising experts from various universities had been established to study trends in predatory journal publications and paper retractions across public universities.

“This committee will propose several suggestions to curb publications in predatory journals, such as sharing a list of such journals and reviewing criteria in the Malaysia Research Assessment, also known as MYIRA 2.0.”

The higher education department issued a circular on July 13, 2023, prohibiting the use of government funds for payments to specific publishers, he added.

Mustapha was responding to Tan’s initial question about the ministry’s plans to address the issue of high paper withdrawal rates in academic journals.