Complaints, Corrections and Retractions
Complaints
The editorial office of Adv Clin Exp Med will carefully consider complaints, appeals and allegations in line with guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This applies both pre- and post-publication. Authors, readers or institutions can lodge complaints.
When a complaint is made to a journal, it must be passed to the Adv Clin Exp Med Managing Editor: Marek Misiak, marek.misiak@umw.edu.pl [alternative e-mail for Chinese authors: marek.misiak@friend.pl], who will address the issue following COPE guidelines. Where necessary, allegations will be referred to the appropriate institution for further investigation. Pending the outcome of an investigation, the published record will be updated accordingly, with a post-publication notice in the form of either a Correction, Retraction or Removal. This notice will be linked to the original article (see below for details). A permanent DOI and URL link between the notice and the full article (both the PDF and the HTML version) enhances transparency and the integrity of the publication record; only in rare cases, where it is in the public interest, will an article be removed.
To submit a complaint or raise an issue of potential misconduct to a journal or to appeal an editorial decision:
- Contact the Adv Clin Exp Med Managing Editor with an explanation of your complaint: Marek Misiak, marek.misiak@umw.edu.pl [alternative e-mail for Chinese authors: marek.misiak@friend.pl].
- The editors will investigate the complaint and decide whether a further investigation is required following COPE guidelines.
- Complex cases, especially, may be submitted directly to COPE for guidance on proceeding.
- We aim to acknowledge complaints or appeals within 5 days of receipt.
- The claimant will not necessarily be informed about the developments in the investigation – they will receive a formal notification when the case is resolved or escalated.
- If the resolution reached by the journal/publisher is not satisfactory to the complainant, the matter may be escalated to COPE or a similar appropriate body.
Corrections, Retractions and Removals
Where post-publication Corrections or Retractions need to be made, or if an article is to be removed, these will be accompanied by a revision or retraction notice to indicate the incorrect elements of the paper and the extent of the Corrections made or the basis for the article’s Retraction or Removal.
Corrections
Authors or the editorial office can initiate Corrections.
Authors should notify us as soon as possible if they find errors in their published article, especially errors that could affect the interpretation of data or the reliability of information presented. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that a consensus has been reached between all listed co-authors before requesting any Corrections to an article. A Correction notice, where possible, should always be written and approved by all authors of the original article. On infrequent occasions where there is a need to correct an error made in the publication process, the journal may be required to issue a Correction without the authors’ direct input. However, should this occur, the journal will make its best efforts to notify the authors. Please note that Correction requests may be subject to full review, and if queries are raised, you may be expected to supply further information before the Correction is approved.
Correction notices address relatively minor errors in the article’s content or changes made to the article’s metadata. These Corrections are strictly limited to, for example, errors of spelling and phrasing that affect meaning, data errors, or miscitations. These changes are outlined in the Correction notice, and the original article must be linked to this notice.
Substantial changes affecting the paper as a whole cannot be made as a Correction – in such a situation, the whole paper will be retracted. It can be considered for publication as a new manuscript, with peer review beginning from scratch. There is also no option of replacing one version of the paper with another or publishing an amended article as a Correction – the Correction notice has the form of a list of changes or consists only of corrected passages, not the whole paper. This is to avoid multiple versions of the same article being circulated simultaneously.
If you wish to submit a Correction, please contact the Managing Editor of Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Marek Misiak: marek.misiak@umw.edu.pl [alternative e-mail for Chinese authors: marek.misiak@friend.pl].
Retractions
Retraction notices are issued for significant issues affecting an article's argument or substantive content that a correction would otherwise not fix. The editors, authors, readers, or institutions can initiate Retraction of a paper. It is a mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to articles with 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 errors, 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.
According to COPE Retraction Guidelines, editors should consider retracting a publication if:
- They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of significant error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error) or as a result of fabrication (e.g., of data) or falsification (e.g., 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 (i.e., cases of redundant publication). In cases of partial overlap (i.e., when authors present new findings in an article that contains a substantial amount of previously published information), editors should consider whether the entire article is retracted or whether to issue a correction clarifying which aspects had been published previously and providing appropriate attribution to the earlier work.
- It contains material or data without authorization for use.
- Copyright has been infringed, or there is some other serious legal issue (e.g., libel, privacy).
- It reports unethical research.
- It has been published solely based on a compromised or manipulated peer review process.
- The author(s) failed to disclose a significant conflict of interest that, in the editors' view, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.
When a Retraction is made, following COPE’s Retraction Guidelines, a Retraction notice is issued, linking to the original article, which clearly states which part(s) of the article are incorrect or unreliable and therefore, the basis for the Retraction. Such notice also specifies who is retracting the paper and possibly how the matter came to the journal’s attention (claimants are named only when given permission). Whenever possible, editors negotiate with authors and attempt to agree on a form of wording that is clear and informative to readers and acceptable to all parties. However, prolonged negotiations should not unreasonably delay Retraction and editors will publish Retractions even if consensus cannot be reached. Papers retracted on behalf of the editorial office will also be retracted when the authors do not consent to Retraction. Prompt Retraction should minimize the number of researchers who cite the erroneous work, act on its findings, or draw incorrect conclusions, such as from ‘double counting’ redundant publications in meta-analyses or similar instances.
A Retraction notice will be linked to the original article. The paper will thus still be available both on the journal’s website and in the PubMed database, but will be marked as retracted. Retaining the original work ensures transparency of the published record, as online versions may have been accessed and cited by researchers before retraction.
If Retraction is due to the actions of some, but not all, authors of a publication, the Retraction notice will mention this when possible. However, authorship entails some degree of joint responsibility for the integrity of the reported research, so it is not appropriate for authors' names to be removed from a publication even if they were not directly culpable for the errors or actions that led to the Retraction.
Removals
Removals are only to be made in rare circumstances where:
- The article contains content that could pose a severe risk of harm if acted upon or followed.
- The article contains content that violates a study participant's privacy rights.
- The article is defamatory or infringes other legal rights.
- The article is subject to a court order.
In the case of an article’s Removal, the contents of the article will be removed from circulation (also from the PubMed database). It will not be downloadable as a file or displayed on the article's webpage. A Removal notice will be issued in the same manner as a standard Retraction notice, including the reason(s) for the article’s Removal. Such notice will supplant the removed paper on the journal’s website and in the PubMed database. The original article’s metadata will remain linked to the Removal notice.
Expressions of Concern
In some cases, an Expression of Concern will be published by the editors of Adv Clin Exp Med if concerns of a serious nature have been raised (e.g., research or publication misconduct), but the outcome of the investigation is inconclusive or where due to various complexities, the investigation will not be completed for a considerable time. This could be due to ongoing institutional investigations or other circumstances outside of the journal’s control.
When the investigation has been completed, a Retraction or Correction notice may follow the Expression of Concern alongside the original article. All will remain part of the permanent publication record.
Expressions of Concern notices will be considered in cases where:
- There is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors, but the nature of the concerns warrants notifying the readers.
- There are well-founded concerns that the findings are unreliable or that misconduct may have occurred, but there is limited cooperation from the authors’ institution(s) in investigating the concerns raised.
- There is an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication that has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive.
- An investigation is underway, but a resolution will not be available for a considerable time, and the nature of the concerns warrant notifying the readers.
The Expression of Concern will be linked back to the published article it relates to.
If you wish to submit an Expression of Concern, please contact the Managing Editor of Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Marek Misiak: marek.misiak@umw.edu.pl [alternative e-mail for Chinese authors: marek.misiak@friend.pl].