RETRACTED: Forest restoration and biodiversity enhancement across China: Regional case insights into ecosystem function recovery and conservation outcomes

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier's policy on article withdrawal ( https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/article-withdrawal ). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor. Post-publication, concerns were raised regarding potential scientific misconduct, including unexplained author changes between the accepted and published versions, suspected paper mill activity, AI-generated figures, and errors in data and figure presentation. Specifically, the version of the paper accepted by the Associate Editor listed a single author, Sugra Humbatova from Azerbaijan, whereas in the published version this author was removed and replaced by five different authors. During the proof correction phase, significant textual changes were also made. Additionally, the map of China in the article contained serious inaccuracies, including multiple incorrect English names for Chongqing, and the regions of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan were wrongly placed on the Korean peninsula. The figures throughout the paper were unclear in their meaning. Moreover, of the 33 references in the published paper, 18 were authored by Umair Muhammad, a lecturer in economics at Emerson University Multan, Pakistan, and were unrelated to the topic of the paper. Investigations also revealed that Umair Muhammad is associated with other manuscripts under ethical review, suggesting a broader pattern of concern. Some graphical abstracts and sections of the text showed significant overlap with previously published work, indicating plagiarism and redundancy. Elsevier's Research Integrity & Publishing Ethics team conducted an investigation on behalf of the journal, contacting the authors for explanations and supporting documentation. The Editor-in-Chief, taking into account the seriousness of the concerns and the potential reputational impact, has decided to retract the article to maintain the integrity of the scientific record. The scientific community takes these matters very seriously, and the journal apologizes to its readers that these issues were not identified prior to publication. The authors have been informed of this retraction.