| Policy owner | Editors-in-Chief / Research Integrity |
| Applies to | All journals and publisher-level services |
| Review cycle | At least annually and after material regulatory or workflow change |
Principle of record integrity
Publication creates a version of record that should remain stable, citable and transparently amendable. Changes after publication are therefore handled through visible notices and linked versions rather than silent replacement when the change affects interpretation, attribution, reliability or the scholarly record.
Minor amendments
Minor typographical, formatting or metadata errors that do not affect meaning, interpretation, indexing, authorship, results or conclusions may be corrected in the online presentation without a separate formal notice where appropriate. Material changes require a dated correction or other post-publication notice.
Corrections
A correction is appropriate when a published article remains substantially reliable but contains an error or omission that should be part of the permanent record. The correction should identify the affected article, describe what changed, be linked bidirectionally with the article, and remain freely accessible. Where feasible, the article should indicate that it has been corrected and link to the notice.
Retractions
Retraction is considered when the findings or publication record are unreliable or seriously compromised, for example because of major error, fabrication or falsification, plagiarism, unauthorised or unethical use of material/data, serious legal or ethical problems, materially compromised peer review, redundant publication, or a major undisclosed conflict that undermines interpretation.
A retraction notice should be promptly published, freely accessible and linked to the article. It should identify who is retracting the article, state the reason in objective and non-inflammatory language, distinguish error from misconduct where possible, and identify external findings only with clear attribution. The article ordinarily remains online for the integrity of the record but is clearly marked as retracted in the HTML/PDF and metadata where technically possible.
Expressions of concern
An expression of concern may be used when substantial doubt exists about an article but evidence is inconclusive, an investigation is ongoing for an extended period, or an external institution cannot or will not provide information needed for a timely resolution. It is not a substitute for correction or retraction once the evidence becomes sufficient.
Article removal
Complete removal of a published article is exceptional. It may be considered when continued display would create a serious legal, privacy, safety or court-ordered problem that cannot reasonably be addressed by retraction or redaction. Where content is removed, a bibliographic landing page or explanatory notice should remain whenever legally permissible so that the scholarly record does not disappear without explanation.
Author name changes and privacy-sensitive updates
Requests to update an author’s name may be handled in a privacy-sensitive manner. Where a public correction would unnecessarily disclose sensitive personal information, the Publisher may update records without stating the prior name, consistent with indexing and DOI requirements.
Versioning and metadata
Post-publication notices should receive persistent identifiers where practical and be deposited with relevant metadata services. The Publisher will seek to ensure that article landing pages, PDFs, indexing metadata and DOI records consistently signal material corrections or retractions. Technical propagation to third-party databases may take time and cannot be fully controlled by the Publisher.