Announcing new support for issuing article corrections and retractions from the Scholastica OA Publishing Platform, including the option to integrate with Crossmark.
Peer review isn’t a perfect or static process. Sometimes, new information comes to light that necessitates publishing article corrections or even retracting research if it’s determined to possess critical flaws.
At Scholastica, we want to help make it easier for journals to report updates to articles swiftly and transparently, in line with research integrity best practices. So, we’ve just released new support for journals using the Scholastica Open Access Publishing Platform to:
- Issue notices of corrections or retractions in line with COPE standards
- Integrate with the Crossmark button so readers can quickly check the status of articles
We cover everything you need to know about these new features below.
Issuing an article correction or retraction via Scholastica
In the event that a journal needs to report an article correction, retraction, or expression of concern, the best practice, per the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE) guidelines, is to update the Version of Record as necessary and permanently link it to a post-publication notice specifying what changed and why. Post-publication notices ensure article updates are obvious and clearly explained, preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.
Journals subscribed to the Scholastica OA Publishing Platform can now issue notices of corrections or retractions via the platform per the above COPE guidelines as necessary. To do so, the editors will create a new article from their Publishing Dashboard (a Typesetting Request for customers using Scholastica’s Production Service or a PDF upload for those only subscribed to OA Publishing), with an appropriate title (e.g., “CORRECTION: Article Name”), and set the Article Type to “Correction” or “Retraction.” From there, they will be prompted to input additional details, including the update type and the DOI of the original article it applies to.
Once the article update notice is published, readers will see a prominent banner on both the original article webpage with a DOI link to the corrected or retracted article and on the corrected or retracted article webpage with a DOI link to the update notice. The banner for retractions will be red, and the banner for corrections will be yellow, as shown above. The JATS XML metadata of the article update notice will also reflect the change.
We’ve applied the new article correction and retraction functionality to all Scholastica OA Publishing customer accounts (so no setup is necessary to use it). For more information, please visit this help document.
New Crossmark integration option
Journals subscribed to the Scholastica OA Publishing Platform that use Scholastica’s Crossref DOI integration now also have the option to integrate with Crossref’s Crossmark button. The Crossmark button gives readers “quick and easy access to the status of an item of content, including any corrections, retractions, or updates to that record.” A key benefit of the Crossmark button is that it can be embedded in article PDFs, so Crossmark members can alert readers to any changes made to published articles even after they download them.
In order to enable this integration option, journals must first join Crossmark (it’s free to Crossref members!) by following the steps here. We cover more information about joining Crossmark and how participating journals can implement the Scholastica OA Publishing Platform Crossmark integration once they do in this help document.
When a journal enables the Crossmark integration, the Crossmark button will immediately appear on the HTML webpages of all of its past and future articles published via Scholastica. So readers can instantly check articles for status updates.
For journals subscribed to the Scholastica Production Service, we’ll also add the Crossmark button to all PDF articles we typeset for you following your Crossmark integration setup (and past articles by request). Journals that create their own PDFs are responsible for adding the Crossmark button to their PDF articles.
Once a journal implements Scholastica’s Crossmark integration (along with our Crossref DOI integration), if they issue an article correction or retraction via Scholastica, we will automatically submit necessary metadata to Crossmark at DOI registration (i.e., the update type, DOI of the original article, and DOI of the journal’s update policy page). Crossref will then sync the status updates to the article’s Crossmark button so that information is available to readers.
When to issue article corrections or retractions
When is it necessary to issue an article correction or retraction? We overview the latest recommendations from COPE here. For a brief summary:
Corrections are appropriate for addressing errors or omissions that do not undermine an article’s overall validity or findings. Examples include fixing mistakes in supplementary materials or visual elements that do not affect the core research findings or adding missing acknowledgments.
Journals can generally fix minor typographical errors (e.g., spelling or grammar mistakes that do not alter the meaning of the article) in the digital version without requiring a correction notice. However, more substantive errors do need formal, public correction.
Retractions are necessary for significant issues that compromise an article’s integrity, validity, or ethical standing. Examples include evidence of information fabrication or falsification, research methodology or analysis errors, direct plagiarism, and unreliable findings.
If a journal’s editorial team is reviewing serious concerns about an article or if they concluded the investigation of a possible issue with inconclusive results, it is best practice to publish an expression of concern.
Of course, the first step to addressing potential article corrections and retractions is preventing problematic research from being published in the first place via robust peer review, including thorough technical checks. You can learn more about what to cover during technical checks here. However, as noted in the introduction of this post, mistakes do happen, and issuing article corrections or retractions as necessary is a critical duty of all journal editors to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.
Ready to learn more?
We hope you found this new feature overview helpful! To learn more about Scholastica’s support for issuing article corrections and retractions, please visit this help document.
This new functionality is another step towards our ongoing efforts to help scholarly publishers of any size meet the latest industry standards more efficiently and affordably to support a sustainable research future.
Stay tuned for future updates, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us — we’re here to help!
