International Journal of Polymer Science has retracted the article titled “Spectroscopic and Electrochemical Properties of [PVA/PVP] : [MgCl2{6H2O}] Blend Polymer Electrolyte Films” published in International Journal of Polymer Science in 2018 [1] due to figure duplication.
The journal initially received a request from the authors to correct Figures 1 and 2. During our assessment of the revised figures, it was identified that Figure 2 was a manipulated version of the original Figure. A further revised figure was also a duplicate of another previously published figure.
Following a reassessment of the published figures, the following issues were identified: (i)Figure duplication in Figure 1 in [1] with Figure 1 from [2]. In [1], the data is described as X-ray diffraction patterns of pure PVA/PVP blend polymer and with different wt% ratios of MgCl2·6H2O, while in [2] the data is described as the X-ray diffraction pattern of PVA/PVP:GO(ii)Figure duplication in Figure 2B in [1] with Figure 2E from [3]. In [1], the data is described as the SEM images of [PVA/PVPMgCl2·6H2O]: x% with different wt% compositions, while in [3] the data is described as SEM images of different compositions of [PVP + MgCl26H2O]: x%.(iii)Figure duplication in Figure 2D in [1] with Figure 3D from [4]. In [1], the data is described as the morphological surface of [PVA/PVPMgCl2·6H2O]: x% with different wt% compositions, while in [4], the SEM images are of pure PVP and PVP + MgSO47H2O with different wt% ratios
The authors responded to our concerns, however a satisfactory explanation was not provided.
We also asked the authors institutions to formally investigate. KL University responded to confirm the duplications but informed us that the accurate versions were published in [1], with the errors existing in the other publications; [2–4]. The corrections to these articles have since been published at [5–7], however, this article is being retracted due to concerns with the data. The authors do not agree to the retraction.