This lecture discuss some issue concerning the error in Publications in What authors need to know about errata, corrigenda and retraction

1. ‫حسنين‬ ‫عطيفى‬ ‫أبوالعال‬ ‫الدكتور‬ ‫األستاذ‬
‫البحثية‬ ‫المصرية‬ ‫العلمية‬ ‫المجموعة‬ ‫ورئيس‬ ‫مؤسس‬
‫والمعلومات‬ ‫الحاسبات‬ ‫بكلية‬ ‫األستاذ‬–‫القاهرة‬ ‫جامعة‬
Error in Publications:
What authors need to know about
errata, corrigenda and retraction
‫الموافق‬ ‫االثنين‬20‫نوفمبر‬2017 ‫والجيوفيزيقية‬ ‫الفلكية‬ ‫للبحوث‬ ‫القومى‬ ‫المعهد‬–‫حلوان‬

2. Acknowledgment
The essential mission of SRGE toward the research
and education in Egypt is to foster learning and
promoting research integrity in the current and next
generation of researchers in Egypt. SRGE is
rededicating itself to this fundamental purpose.
**Slides are adapted from several presentations, papers, and notes on the internet
as well as Elsevier and Springer ethic, COPE, **

3. Permission is granted to use or modify
this presentation to support education
about the responsible conduct of
research, scholarship, and creative
activities. Users are expected to cite
this source.
Permission

4. ‫بالمعهد‬ ‫وزمالئى‬ ‫أساتذتى‬ ‫الى‬ ‫إهداء‬

5. Big Question
 I have recently submitted a paper. I
feel the paper is good quality but I
have found several mistakes. They
are minor editorial mistakes that do
not affect the science but could
cause confusion.
 I have recently submitted a paper I
have found several mistakes. They
are major editorial mistakes that
affect the science
I discovered a mistake in my own published
journal paper, what can I do?

6. ‫والجيوفيزيقية‬ ‫الفلكية‬ ‫للبحوث‬ ‫القومى‬ ‫المعهد‬–‫حلوان‬
IT DEPENDS ON WHAT THE
ERROR IS.
6

7. Research Misconduct
I have recently submitted a paper with misconduct problem (Fabrication –
Falsification – plagiarism) and whilst blower catch it and pass a report to the
journal.

8. Test Your Knowledge
 Quiz: True
or False?
Q1 Papers written by non- native speakers are more
often retracted than those written by native speakers
Q2 Papers of authors from developing countries are
more likely to be retracted than those from the
world’s top ranking universities
Q4 After an article is retracted, the number of
citations of that article decreases dramatically
Q3 Articles that are retracted tend to be highly cited
before the retraction

9. Answering
 Quiz: True
or False?
Q1 Papers written by non- native speakers are more often retracted than those written
by native speakers
False: No study has specifically investigated whether papers by non-native
speakers are more likely to be retracted. However, in general, it has been found that the
personal characteristics of authors are not correlated with the retraction rate.
Q2 Papers of authors from developing countries are more likely to be retracted than those
from the world’s top ranking universities
False: In fact, papers by authors from top U.S. universities are most likely to
be retracted.
Q4 After an article is retracted, the number of citations of that article decreases
dramatically
True: It may be that articles with many citations have received greater
scrutiny, and therefore readers are more likely to find the problems in those papers.
Q3 Articles that are retracted tend to be highly cited before the retraction
True: Although older studies found that it took years for the citation rate to
drop, with the increasing use of computer databases, the citation rate now drops within
months.

10. Q: What did we learn from the quiz?
Any author can make errors.
We MUST examine all papers that we publish

11. How serious is an errata,
corrigenda, or a retraction?
 They should all be avoided as they do
not reflect well on your research if it
needs to be corrected or a statement is
issued that calls your article’s integrity
into question. Publishers have a
responsibility to correct the publication
record when required, but you will not
be surprised to read that they and the
editors of a journal want to avoid
publishing an article with mistakes or
fraudulent research and having to write
an erratum, corrigenda, or retraction.
 This presentation describes each of
these publication notices.

12. Verification
Publication of any of these notices is not taken
lightly, and verification will be sought by the
publisher of the journal. Verification involves the
corresponding author unless he or she is not
contactable. Verification may be as simple as an
author confirming that a mistake was made in the
paper to a full investigation conducted by the
author’s institution or employer to explore whether
the research is fraudulent. Correspondence on the
concerns raised on a paper is dealt with as
confidentially as possible.
This involves only those people who can assist in
the resolution of a claim and can recommend
whether a notice is warranted.

13. How do each of these errata, expressions of
concern, and retractions arise?
They are usually the result of a request from
the author or observation from a reviewer,
editorial board member, another journal, a
publisher, an employer, funder of research, a
reader or “whistle blower,” or a comparison of
content using plagiarism software.

14. A notice
A notice is considered if the article is published and
publically accessible. A published article can include
a version that has appeared online in its final form, or
a prior version before a final version is published in
an issue.
For articles that are not yet in a final version, an
errata is unlikely to be required because important
changes could be incorporated before the final
version is published.
A errata or retraction can still be applied to articles
that have appeared online irrespective of whether it is
a final version or not, as the article has been
published and the publisher is required to correct the
publication record.

15. Each notice
 Each notice is published in the same
way and appears in the print (when
there is one) and online versions of the
journal.
 A reference citation to the original
publication will be included, and in the
electronic world it is just a click away
from the original article. The person
who is reading the article online has a
distinct advantage over the print
reader, who may be reading the
original article without knowledge of
the notices published in later issues.

16. Considering retracting
Journal
editors
should
consider
retracting a
publication if: Retraction
misconduct
honest
error
redundant
publicatio
n
Plagiarism
unethical
research
16
e.g.
miscalculation or
experimental
error
e.g. data fabrication

17. Not Considering retracting
an expression of concern
Journal
editors should
consider
issuing an
expression of
concern if
expression
of concern
inconclusive
evidence
authors’
institution
17
• they receive
inconclusive
evidence of
research or
publication
misconduct by
the authors
authors’
institution will
not investigate
the case

18. Retraction
 Can authors
dissociate
themselves from
a retracted
publication?
 If retraction is due
to the actions of
some, but not all,
authors of a
publication, the
notice of retraction
should mention this.
Who should issue the retraction?
Articles may be retracted by their author(s) or
by the journal editor. In some cases, retractions
are issued jointly or on behalf of the journal’s
owner (eg, a learned society or publisher).
Retracted articles should generally NOT be
removed from electronic archives or printed
copies but their retracted status should be
highlighted

19. Errata
 An errata
refers to a
correction of
errors
introduced to
the article by
the publisher.
All publisher-introduced changes are highlighted to the author at the
proof stage and any errors are ideally identified by the author and
corrected by the publisher before final publication.
Authors who notice an error should contact the Journal Manager
Errata may be published to correct text or information that appears anywhere
within an earlier published article. Errata must be labeled and published in citable
form; that is, the erratum must appear on a numbered page in an issue of the
journal that published the original article. For online journals or online-only
content, the erratum must be readily discernable in the table of contents of a
subsequent issue and must be associated with identifiable pagination or e-
location.
An important difference between the traditional print journal and the online journal (or the online version of a print journal) is that an
article can have more than one version online. Typically, an article will be available as both full-text HTML and a PDF showing the
traditional print layout. If an erratum is published, both versions should be corrected for errors; otherwise multiple versions of the same
article exist

20. Corrigenda
Dictionary
 1.
An error to be corrected.
 2.
A list of errors in a book
along with their corr
ections.
Notification of an important error made by the
author(s) that affects the publication record or
the scientific integrity of the paper, or the
reputation of the authors or the journal.

21. What Should a Corrigendum
Include?
 The complete bibliographic information for the corrected article
 Acknowledgement of the person who helped find the error(s)
 Explanation of the correction, whether brief or extensive
 Brief errors can be mentioned along with the corrected form
o In the correction of an entire figure or table, only the
erroneous parts need to be listed, along with a complete
revised figure or table
 Citation of any articles related to the correction, along with
a standard reference list
21

22. General Guidelines
 If the journal includes a print edition, the errata or retraction should be printed in
a subsequent issue, not just included on the website.
 When an author finds the article electronically, the fact that the erratum or other
notice exists should be clear in every location on the website: table of contents,
abstract, full text, etc.
 In the electronic form, links should be available BOTH from the article to the
erratum or retraction AND from the erratum or retraction back to the article.
 Even if the journal is not open access, the erratum or retraction should be freely
accessible to the public.
 If the consequences of the error may cause serious harm (such as errors in drug
dosages), the editor can contact the major databases to speed the process of
correcting the database records.
 When reviewing the accuracy of the reference list, any cited article that has a
retraction notice should be referred tothe journal editor.
22

23. ‫والجيوفيزيقية‬ ‫الفلكية‬ ‫للبحوث‬ ‫القومى‬ ‫المعهد‬–‫حلوان‬
COPE

24. Thanks and Acknowledgement
‫االولى‬ ‫الطبقة‬ ‫من‬ ‫والفنون‬ ‫العلوم‬ ‫وسام‬2017