هذة المحاضرة من ضمن سلسلة محاضرات مهارات البحث العلمى للمدرسة العلمية البحثية المصرية - تم القائها بمعهد الدراسات العليا والبحوث - جامعة الاسكندرية

1. Error in Publications:
What authors need to know about errata,
corrigenda and retraction
‫المصرية‬ ‫البحثية‬ ‫العلمية‬ ‫المدرسة‬ ‫ورئيس‬ ‫مؤسس‬–‫مجلس‬ ‫مقرر‬
‫المعلومات‬ ‫وتكنولوجيا‬ ‫االتصاالت‬–‫العلمى‬ ‫البحث‬ ‫أكاديمية‬-
‫اإلصطناعى‬ ‫والذكاء‬ ‫الحاسبات‬ ‫بكلية‬ ‫واألستاذ‬–‫القاهرة‬ ‫جامعة‬-
‫االولى‬ ‫الطبقة‬ ‫من‬ ‫والفنون‬ ‫العلوم‬ ‫وسام‬ ‫على‬ ‫الحاصل‬
‫الدكتور‬ ‫األستاذ‬/‫حسنين‬ ‫عطيفى‬ ‫أبوالعال‬
‫االسكندرية‬ ‫جامعة‬
‫والبحوث‬ ‫العليا‬ ‫الدراسات‬ ‫معهد‬
‫الموافق‬ ‫الثالثاء‬3‫سبتمبر‬2019

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. 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?

5. It depends on
what the error is.
5

6. 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.

7. What is research
misconduct?
(a) FABRICATION is making up data or results and
recording or reporting them
(b) FALSIFICATION is manipulating research
materials, equipment or processes, or changing
or omitting data or results that the research is
not accurately presented in the research record
(c) PLAGIARISM is the appropriation of another
person’s ideas, processes, results or words
without giving appropriate credit
Research misconduct DOES NOT
include honest error or differences
of opinion
Researchers sometimes mistakenly accuse their peers of misconduct. It is important to
distinguish between misconduct and honest error or a difference of scientific opinion
to prevent unnecessary and time-consuming misconduct proceedings, protect
scientists from harm, and avoid deterring researchers from using novel methods or
proposing controversial hypotheses.

8. • Lie (fabrications)
• Cheat (falsifications)
• Steal (plagiarism)
Do not
An easy to remember scientific moral code

9. 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

10. 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.

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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. Considering
retracting
Retraction
misconduct
honest error
redundant
publication
Plagiarism
unethical
research
17
miscalculation /
experimental error
e.g. data fabrication
Journal editors
should consider
retracting a
publication if:

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

19. 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
Retracted articles should generally NOT be
removed from electronic archives or printed
copies but their retracted status should be
highlighted
‫المؤلفين‬‫كل‬‫الزم‬‫مش‬

20. Errata
• An errata
refers to a
correction of
errors
introduced to
the article by
the publisher.
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
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 discernible in the table of contents of a subsequent issue and
must be associated with identifiable pagination or e-location.

21. Corrigenda
• 1.
An error to be corrected.
• 2.
A list of errors in a book along
with their corrections.
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.

22. 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

23. 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.
23

26. Thanks and
Acknowledgement