The articles, which appeared in Environmental Toxicology, have been retracted in batches, the latest on February 16-17, 2025, with previous sets in January, 2025 and November, 2024. The retraction notices of all 26 papers read in part: "Following an investigation by the publisher, the parties have concluded that this article was accepted solely on the basis of a compromised peer review process. Therefore, the article must be retracted."

All authors of the retracted papers are affiliated with universities in China. Most of the corresponding authors had email domains not associated with a university or research organization, containing random sequences of letters and numbers, a potential sign of paper mill activity.

Nine of the retraction notices stated that one or more of the authors disagreed with the retractions. Zheng Lufeng, associate professor at China Pharmaceutical University in Nanjing, was co-corresponding author of the retracted article "MiR-375 impairs breast cancer cell stemness by targeting the KLF5/G6PD signaling axis." He told in an email the authors were not involved in the peer review process. "This is the editor’s responsibility," he said.

Source https://retractionwatch.com/2025/02/19/environmental-toxicology-wiley-journal-retractions-compromised-peer-review/

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