International Wound Journal, a Wiley title, has retracted 27 papers since June 2024 with notices mentioning “manipulated” or “compromised” peer review.
It came to the publisher’s attention from a third party that a number of articles shared concerning similarities in format and structure. Following an investigation by the publisher, the retraction has been agreed on as the peer review and publishing process for article were found to be manipulated. Five papers pulled November 12 have different notices, which stated the articles were accepted "solely on the basis of a compromised peer review process", and therefore must be retracted.
In an August editorial, the editors acknowledged: "This has challenged our submission and review process. To manage this, we are implementing significant back-end processes to identify and reject such content. We are also creating the largest single editorial board for any wound care journal, to strengthen our review process to enhance its effectiveness."
