Correction and Retraction

We issue corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions to keep the literature reliable. See Table 1 for the notice that fits each situation.

Table 1. Notices for published articles

Situation	Notice
An honest error that leaves the findings intact, such as a wrong label, a missing funder, or a missing declaration	Correction notice
Credible concerns without clear evidence that the work is unreliable, or an investigation in progress	Expression of concern; we replace it with a correction, a retraction, or a final note when we reach an answer
A serious error that changes the findings, with sound underlying scholarship and methods	Retraction with replacement
Results or conclusions that we no longer trust: fabricated, falsified, or manipulated data or images, plagiarism, unethical research, compromised peer review, or an undisclosed major conflict of interest	Retraction

Corrections

We publish a correction notice as soon as we confirm an error. In the notice, we cite the original article, describe what changed, and link to it, and we link the corrected article back to the notice. If you find a significant error in your published article, write to the editors so that we can issue a correction.

Expressions of concern

We publish an expression of concern when credible concerns exist and the evidence does not yet show whether the work is unreliable, when a formal investigation is under way, or when the authors cannot provide requested information at once. An expression of concern does not suit a case that we can resolve within a few weeks, a case in which the main findings remain reliable, or a dispute about authorship. We state the reason in neutral, factual wording, identify the article by title and authors, link the notice and the article to each other, and replace the notice with a correction, a retraction, or a final note when we reach an answer.

Retractions

We retract an article when we no longer have confidence in its results or conclusions. Grounds include fabricated, falsified, or manipulated data or images, major errors, plagiarism or unattributed overlap with earlier work, unethical research, compromised peer review, an undisclosed major conflict of interest, and undisclosed use of AI (COPE, 2025).

In the retraction notice, we identify the article by title, authors, and DOI, label the notice as a retraction, say who retracts the article and why, and keep to proven facts in neutral wording. We link the notice and the article to each other and make the notice free to read. We keep the retracted article online with every version marked as retracted, and we update its DOI record so that databases show the retraction. In rare cases, such as a privacy violation, a court order, or a serious risk to health or the environment, we remove content and keep the metadata and the notice.

The Editor-in-Chief decides on a retraction. If the Editor-in-Chief has a conflict of interest, an editor without a conflict decides, and the publisher may support the investigation. We do not need the authors’ agreement: if some or all authors disagree or do not respond, we proceed. We do not wait for an institution to finish its investigation when we are confident that the article is unreliable, and we publish an expression of concern if we expect more information. We consider a request for retraction from the authors or their institution and decide on the documents they provide. For a serious error that changes the findings and leaves the scholarship and methods intact, we may retract the article and publish a replacement.