How do I issue a correction or retraction for an article?

When is a correction or retraction appropriate?

We suggest following the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)'s guidelines as a best practice and directly share their suggestions below.

When issuing any type of correction or retraction, it is best-practice to leave the already-published article in place and create a new article which specifies the reason for correction or retraction. This practice preserves the scholarly record while also providing clear context about the update for future researchers.

Editors should consider retracting a publication if:

  • They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of major error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (eg, of data) or falsification (eg, image manipulation)
  • It constitutes plagiarism
  • The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication)
  • It contains material or data without authorization for use
  • Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (eg, libel, privacy)
  • It reports unethical research
  • It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process
  • The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest (aka, conflict of interest) that, in the view of the editor, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Retractions are not usually appropriate if:

  • The authorship is disputed but there is no reason to doubt the validity of the findings. This would be better handled as a correction.
  • The main findings of the work are still reliable and correction could sufficiently address errors or concerns.
  • An editor has inconclusive evidence to support retraction, or is awaiting additional information such as from an institutional investigation (for information about expressions of concern see (https://cope.onl/forum-concern)).
  • Author conflicts of interest have been reported to the journal after publication, but in the editor’s view these are not likely to have influenced interpretations or recommendations, or the conclusions of the article.

What information should a correction or retraction include?

Notices of retraction should:

  • Be linked to the retracted article wherever possible (i.e., in all online versions)
  • Clearly identify the retracted article (e.g., by including the title and authors in the retraction heading or citing the retracted article)
  • Be clearly identified as a retraction (i.e., distinct from other types of correction or comment)
  • Be published promptly to minimize harmful effects
  • Be freely available to all readers (i.e., not behind access barriers or available only to subscribers)
  • State who is retracting the article
  • State the reason(s) for retraction
  • Be objective, factual, and avoid inflammatory language.

[source: COPE retraction guidelines]

How do I issue a correction or retraction through Scholastica?

If you are subscribed to Scholastica OA Publishing, you can follow these steps to issue a correction or retraction:

  • Navigate to My Journals > Publishing > New to create a new article. This can be a Typesetting Request or PDF article upload.
  • Visit the "Article Metadata" step.
  • Fill in all metadata (you may want to title the correction/retraction something like "CORRECTION: Original Article Title")
  • On the article type field "Article type", select one of the following options:
    • Correction
      • If only a small part of an article reports flawed data or content, this may be best rectified by a correction. Partial retractions are not helpful because they make it difficult to determine the status of the article and which parts may be relied upon. Similarly, if only a small section of an article (eg, a few sentences in the discussion) is plagiarized, editors should consider a correction (which could note that text was used without appropriate acknowledgement and cite the source) rather than retracting the entire article, which may contain sound, original data. [source: COPE retraction guidelines]
    • Retraction
      • Retraction is a mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to articles that contain such seriously flawed or erroneous content or data that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon. Unreliable content or data may result from honest error, naïve mistakes, or research misconduct. The main purpose of retraction is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity rather than to punish the authors. Retractions may be used to alert readers to cases of redundant publication, plagiarism, peer review manipulation, reuse of material or data without authorization, copyright infringement or some other legal issue, unethical research, and/or a failure to disclose a major competing interest that would have unduly influenced interpretations or recommendations. [source: COPE retraction guidelines]
  • Then select the appropriate "Correction type". This is a finer-grain classification used to describe the nature of the update. This field is especially important if your journal is using the Crossmark integration:
    • Correction:
      • Addendum : Publication item giving additional information regarding another publication item, mostly presenting additional results.
      • Clarification
      • Correction
      • Corrigendum : Article in which author errors are reported that were made in an earlier publication in the same journal.
      • Erratum : Article in which publishing errors are reported that were made in an earlier publication in the same journal.
      • New Edition
      • New Version
      • Withdrawal
    • Retraction:
      • Retraction
      • Expression of Concern : Notices issued by journals to highlight potential issues with a publication, often related to misconduct or unreliable findings, or if there are ongoing investigations which may take time.
      • Partial Retraction
      • New Edition
      • New Version
      • Removal
      • Withdrawal

  • Specify the DOI number of the article that needs to be corrected or retracted. Note: to issue a correction or retraction, the article being updated must have a DOI number.

  • Complete all remaining, required fields for the article (e.g. title, authors, files, etc).
  • Once your correction / retraction article is complete, publish it!

What do readers see when an article has been corrected / retracted?

Once your correction / retraction article is published, you will see a prominent banner on both the original article (i.e. the article that needs to be corrected / retracted) webpage and the correction / retraction article (i.e. the article you just created which specifies the reason for correction / retraction) webpage. The banner for corrections will be yellow and the banner for retractions will be red.

Original article displaying a notice that this article has a correction (specifically a corrigendum)
Screenshot of a correction-type article. There is a yellow banner stating
Corrigendum notice article pointing back to the original article
Retraction notice

Crossmark (Crossref) integration on Scholastica

Finally, if possible, we also recommend that you set up the Crossmark integration for your journal. By adding this integration, your readers will see a button that provides "quick and easy access to the current status of an item of content, including any corrections, retractions, or updates to that record."

Learn more about Crossmark and how to set up the Crossmark integration for your Scholastica account.