Ceramics International has retracted 56 papers this year, most flagged by outside scrutiny
Elsevier's journal Ceramics International has retracted 56 papers in 2026, most of them after outside scrutiny rather than internal checks, Retraction Watch reported on 20 August. More than 50 were requested by an independent publishing-ethics adviser, and 43 of the notices cite comments on PubPeer. A scientific sleuth had flagged 80 of the papers to the publisher in April 2025, more than a year before the retractions began.
What happened
Ceramics International, a materials-science journal published by Elsevier, has retracted 56 papers so far this year, according to reporting by Retraction Watch on 20 August 2026. The journal began issuing the notices in July.
More than 50 of the retractions were requested by what the notices describe as "an impartial field expert acting in the role of an independent Publishing Ethics advisor." Forty-three of the notices reference comments on PubPeer, the post-publication review site, flagging problems with the work. The stated reasons include image overlap, concerns about data integrity, and "suspicious" changes in authorship.
Context
Retraction Watch reports that the scientific sleuth Mu Yang flagged 80 papers from the journal to Elsevier on 23 April 2025. The first retractions followed more than a year later. That gap, between an outside researcher raising concerns and a publisher acting on them, is the part worth watching.
This is one of several large batches Elsevier has processed recently, and not the largest. The publisher's International Journal of Biological Macromolecules has passed 120 retractions since June for coordinated peer-review manipulation.
Why it matters
Analysis. The recurring feature across these cases is not the count but the source of the pressure. Much of the detection is being done outside the journals, by individual sleuths and by PubPeer commenters, and then handed to publishers who act slowly. An "independent Publishing Ethics advisor" requesting most of one journal's retractions is a sign the internal checks did not catch the problems first. For a researcher relying on the literature, the practical takeaway is that a paper's presence in an indexed journal is not, on its own, evidence it was ever meaningfully screened.
Sources: "Ceramics journal pulls dozens of papers flagged for integrity concerns," Retraction Watch, 20 August 2026. Flagged comments via PubPeer.