PLOS One Issues Expression of Concern Over Yangtze Delta Agriculture Study

The editors of PLOS One have issued an Expression of Concern for a study that examined how agricultural pollution and carbon reduction can be decoupled from economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. The notice, published on October 22, 2026, applies to the paper by Yuan, Xu, and Kong, titled “Decoupling agriculture pollution and carbon reduction from economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta, China,” which appeared in the journal in 2023.

According to the editorial notice, the article was identified as one of a series of submissions about which the journal has concerns regarding the integrity and reliability of the peer review process. The editors state that the expression of concern was issued because the paper belongs to this group of flagged submissions, rather than because of a specific finding about the data or analysis presented in the study itself.

The notice is explicit about the limits of the journal’s investigation. In following up on the matter, PLOS did not evaluate the article’s integrity or scientific validity. This means the expression of concern does not represent a determination that the study’s findings are wrong, nor does it confirm any specific flaw in the research. Instead, it signals to readers that questions about how the paper moved through peer review remain unresolved.

Readers are advised to interpret the article with consideration of this issue. The original study analyzed the relationship between economic growth and two environmental goals in the Yangtze River Delta: reducing agricultural pollution and lowering carbon emissions.

The editors drew a distinction between the peer review process and the authors’ own behavior. The notice states that the editors do not have concerns regarding the authors’ conduct during the peer review process.

The expression of concern notice carries its own digital object identifier, 10.1371/journal.pone.0360875, and is published as an open-access editorial. The original flagged article remains available under the article identifier e0280268. Readers and researchers who rely on the study’s findings about agriculture, pollution, carbon reduction, and economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta are directed to weigh the editorial notice when citing or building on the work.

Subject of Research: PLOS One Expression of Concern regarding peer review integrity for a Yangtze River Delta decoupling study

Article Title: Expression of Concern: Decoupling agriculture pollution and carbon reduction from economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Article References: The PLOS One Editors (2026). Expression of Concern: Decoupling agriculture pollution and carbon reduction from economic growth in the Yangtze River Delta, China. PLOS One, 21(10), e0360875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360875

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0360875

Keywords: PLOS One, Expression of Concern, peer review, research integrity, Yangtze River Delta, agricultural pollution, carbon reduction, China, decoupling, editorial notice, Expression, Concern