How are global university rankings adjusted for erroneous science, fraud and misconduct? Posterior reduction or adjustment in rankings in response to retractions and invalidation of scientific findings

Abstract

Global university rankings (GURs), such as the Times Higher Education World University Ranking (THE WUR), Quacquarelli Symonds University World Rankings (QS UWR) and the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) are positively incremental, that is, they do not reflect any level of penalisation in response to unscholarly activity, especially in the field of research and publication. In the light of an increasing trend in fraud, such as the use of paper mills and authorship-for-sale schemes, this letter proposes that GURs need to be reduced, or penalised, in response to cases of misconduct and instances of retractions. In the absence of a transparent corrective system, GURs will be further criticised for being unfair, biased and not reflective of an evolving and unstable academic publishing ecosystem.