This study presents a global analysis of academic misconduct using data from 25,710 cases of academic misconduct retraction (AMR) out of 31,003 retracted articles between 2000 and 2023. The retracted articles and retraction notices were collected from journals indexed in the SCI, SSCI, and ESCI databases and categorized into 10 macro-topics and 326 meso-topics using Citation Topics. The findings suggest that academic misconduct varies widely across disciplines and topics, with distinct patterns of reasons for misconduct in each topic. Academic misconduct occurs across all disciplines, with several topics being more severe. The AMR rate is relatively small, at 6.8 out of 10,000 articles, but it is heterogeneously distributed across disciplines, ranging from 1.7 to 17.4. For example, in the discipline of Electrical Engineering, Electronics, and Computer Science (EE & Comp Sci), the AMR rate is 17.4, which is 10 times higher than that of Physics. Clinical and Life Sciences (Clin & Life Sci) has the highest number of AMRs at 12,565, with an AMR rate of 8.9. At the meso-topic level, 324 out of 326 meso-topics have at least one instance of academic misconduct. A science map generated by VOSviewer highlights the meso-topics impacted by AMR. The map shows that the severity of academic misconduct varies greatly among different topics. An AMR index was proposed to assess the severity of academic misconduct in specific entities, such as topics, journals, institutions, etc. The AMR index indicates that 110 of the 326 meso-topics have an AMR index greater than 1, indicating a higher severity of academic misconduct compared to the overall baseline. The reasons for misconduct exhibit distinctive patterns among various topics. 82.6% of articles were retracted due to various forms of academic misconduct. In recent years, new forms of academic misconduct have become more prevalent, including Fake Peer-review, Paper Mill, and the emergence of artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC). The reasons for misconduct in meso-topics exhibit more complex characteristics. In the case of mlncRNA, the primary reason is Paper Mill, while traditional reasons also play a significant role. However, for the topics of Telecommunications, Security Systems, Comp Vis & Graph, AI & ML, and Edu & Educ Res, Fake Peer-review is the most common reason. In contrast, traditional reasons remain the main cause of misconduct in the topics of Phytochemicals, Anesthesiology, Immunology, and Mol & Cell Bio. This study highlights the widespread occurrence of academic misconduct across various topics, but the severity of misconduct varies significantly among them.This study presents a global analysis of academic misconduct using data from 25,710 cases of academic misconduct retraction (AMR) out of 31,003 retracted articles between 2000 and 2023. The retracted articles and retraction notices were collected from journals indexed in the SCI, SSCI, and ESCI databases and categorized into 10 macro-topics and 326 meso-topics using Citation Topics. The findings suggest that academic misconduct varies widely across disciplines and topics, with distinct patterns of reasons for misconduct in each topic. Academic misconduct occurs across all disciplines, with several topics being more severe. The AMR rate is relatively small, at 6.8 out of 10,000 articles, but it is heterogeneously distributed across disciplines, ranging from 1.7 to 17.4. For example, in the discipline of Electrical Engineering, Electronics, and Computer Science (EE & Comp Sci), the AMR rate is 17.4, which is 10 times higher than that of Physics. Clinical and Life Sciences (Clin & Life Sci) has the highest number of AMRs at 12,565, with an AMR rate of 8.9. At the meso-topic level, 324 out of 326 meso-topics have at least one instance of academic misconduct. A science map generated by VOSviewer highlights the meso-topics impacted by AMR. The map shows that the severity of academic misconduct varies greatly among different topics. An AMR index was proposed to assess the severity of academic misconduct in specific entities, such as topics, journals, institutions, etc. The AMR index indicates that 110 of the 326 meso-topics have an AMR index greater than 1, indicating a higher severity of academic misconduct compared to the overall baseline. The reasons for misconduct exhibit distinctive patterns among various topics. 82.6% of articles were retracted due to various forms of academic misconduct. In recent years, new forms of academic misconduct have become more prevalent, including Fake Peer-review, Paper Mill, and the emergence of artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC). The reasons for misconduct in meso-topics exhibit more complex characteristics. In the case of mlncRNA, the primary reason is Paper Mill, while traditional reasons also play a significant role. However, for the topics of Telecommunications, Security Systems, Comp Vis & Graph, AI & ML, and Edu & Educ Res, Fake Peer-review is the most common reason. In contrast, traditional reasons remain the main cause of misconduct in the topics of Phytochemicals, Anesthesiology, Immunology, and Mol & Cell Bio. This study highlights the widespread occurrence of academic misconduct across various topics, but the severity of misconduct varies significantly among them.