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Fact Sheet
Errata, Retractions, Partial Retractions, Corrected and Republished Articles, Duplicate Publications, Comments (including Author Replies), Updates, Patient Summaries, and Republished (Reprinted) Articles Policy for MEDLINE®
Printer-friendly VersionThe National Library of Medicine® (NLM) has a long-standing tradition of providing access to information in the biomedical literature through quality programs and services. One of the ways NLM assists users is to add subsequent notices of and/or linkages between citations for errata, retractions, partial retractions, corrected and republished articles, duplicate publications, comments (including author replies), updated versions of articles, patient summaries and republished (reprinted) articles indexed and available in NLM’s online MEDLINE database. Users who search MEDLINE will be informed if they retrieve a citation for an article that has been corrected by an erratum notice, retracted or partially retracted, corrected and republished, been found to duplicate another article, generated a separately published commenting article, been updated by a subsequent article, if a summary for patients has been published, or has been republished (reprinted) in another journal.
Errata
Corrections or corrigenda for previously-published articles are all uniformly considered by NLM to be errata. NLM does not differentiate between errors that originate in the publication process and those that result from errors of scientific logic or methodology, because journal editors do not make this distinction consistently or clearly. Since 1987, when a journal has published a labeled, citable erratum to a previously-published article, NLM has amended its citation to the original article with a bibliographic reference to the erratum notice, in order to alert users and refer them to the source of the erratum information.
In PubMed®, the erratum information typically appears as a text phrase such as:
Erratum in: JAMA. 2004 Nov 24;292(20):2470.
The appearance of the erratum information varies with the display format (Summary, Abstract, etc.) with which a PubMed citation is viewed. In the MEDLINE format, the erratum information appears in the EIN (Erratum in) field.
Errata may be published to correct text or information that appears anywhere within an earlier published article. If the correction involves text or information that is part of the corresponding NLM citation, such as the author, title or abstract, then NLM will update its citation to the corrected form of the text or information, and will indicate in some manner that data within one of the citation fields has been corrected. When appropriate, NLM will retain the ability to retrieve the data via the previous, uncorrected form of the citation.
For example, if an author name has been corrected, NLM will retain the ability to search and retrieve the citation via the originally published, incorrect form of the author name, in addition to the ability to search and retrieve the citation via the corrected form of the author name. A notice about the correction in the citation will show both the incorrect spelling of the name and the corrected form.
If the errata occurred in a portion of the article that is not included in the NLM citation, such as the text, graphs, or tables, only a reference to the published erratum notice will be added to the MEDLINE citation.
A new citation is not generally created by NLM for a brief erratum notice, but a new citation may be created when the erratum notice is published as a substantive article or letter. Such a citation is indexed with the Publication Type PUBLISHED ERRATUM and is linked to the citation for the original article. The reference for the original article appears after the text “Erratum for:” in most PubMed displays, and in the EFR field in the MEDLINE display.
NLM will only acknowledge errata when they are published in citable form: the erratum notice must appear on a numbered page in a subsequent issue of the journal in which the article was originally published. Error notices that are inserted unbound into a journal issue or “tipped” will not be considered part of the permanent bibliographic record. For online journals or online-only content, the erratum notice must be readily discernable in the table of contents of a subsequent issue, and must be associated with identifiable pagination.
NLM does not make changes to citations in response to letters from authors or editors, unless such letters indicate that a substantive published erratum is in press, and galleys or proof sheets are provided that indicate the content and pagination of the forthcoming erratum notice.
Errata Examples:
Dosage correction: Note that “[corrected]” appears twice in the fourth sentence of the abstract, immediately after the dosages that were corrected.
Author name correction:Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 1998 Nov;13(6):263-7.
Erratum in:
Int Clin Psychopharmacol 1999 Mar;14(2):138.
Cardiac side-effects of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in middle-aged and elderly depressed patients.
Strik JJ, Honig A, Lousberg R, Cheriex EC, Van Praag HM.
Department of Psychiatry, Maastricht University Hospital, The Netherlands.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the 'new' drugs of first choice for the treatment of depression in the older patient. Systematic studies on the effects of SSRIs on cardiac function are scarce, despite the high prevalence of cardiac disorders in the older depressed patient. This is a study which systematically assessed cardiac function by echocardiography in middle-aged and elderly depressed patients treated with SSRI. In a double-blind randomized trial, 20 patients were assigned to receive fluvoxamine 100 mg/day [corrected] or fluoxetine 20 mg/day [corrected] for 6 weeks. Cardiac function was assessed by left ventricle ejection fraction, aortic flow integral and early or passive/late or active mitral inflow, and electrocardiography. Neither SSRI significantly affected cardiac function. Compared with patients without a history of myocardial infarction and/or hypertension, patients with such a history showed a significant improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction. Despite our small study sample, these data indicate that both fluoxetine and fluvoxamine do not affect cardiac function adversely.
PMID: 9861576 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
An indexed published erratum (note also the next example, the corresponding corrected citation):Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2000 Dec;26(6):567-71.
Erratum in:
Blood Cells Mol Dis 2001 Jan-Feb;27(1):351. Volach B [corrected to Wolach B].
A new exon 9 glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase mutation (G6PD "Rehovot") in a Jewish Ethiopian family with variable phenotypes.
Iancovici-Kidon M, Sthoeger D, Abrahamov A, Wolach B, Beutler E, Gelbart T, Barak Y.
PMID: 11112389 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
The corresponding corrected citation:Am J Med Genet. 2000 Aug 14;93(4):342.
Erratum for:
Am J Med Genet. 2000 Jan 3;90(1):72-9.
The devil of the one letter code and the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: corrigendum.
Steinmann B, Giunta C.
Publication Types:
Published Erratum
PMID: 10946364 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Am J Med Genet. 2000 Jan 3;90(1):72-9.
Erratum in:
Am J Med Genet. 2000 Aug 14;93(4):342.
Compound heterozygosity for a disease-causing G1489E [correction of G1489D] and disease-modifying G530S substitution in COL5A1 of a patient with the classical type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: an explanation of intrafamilial variability?
Giunta C, Steinmann B.
PMID: 10602121 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Retractions
Articles may be retracted or withdrawn by their authors, academic or institutional sponsor, editor or publisher, because of pervasive error or unsubstantiated or irreproducible data. For example, an article’s conclusions may have been based upon faulty logic or computation, its data may have been obtained by accident from a contaminated cell line or through poor instrumentation, or it may have been derived from falsified or fabricated data. NLM does not differentiate between articles that are retracted because of honest error and those that are retracted because of scientific misconduct or plagiarism. If the notification in the journal is labeled as a retraction or withdrawal, NLM will index it as a retraction.
Is it NLM’s policy that a retraction will be indexed as a retraction only if it clearly states that the article in question is being retracted or withdrawn in whole or in part (for partial retractions, see below), and is signed by an author of the retracted paper or author’s legal counsel; by the head of the department, dean, or director of the laboratory where the paper was produced; or by the journal editor. In addition, the retraction must be labeled and published in citable form; that is, the retraction must appear on a numbered page in an issue of the journal that published the retracted article.
NLM does not remove the citation for a retracted article, but updates the citation to indicate it has been retracted, and links the original citation to the citation for the published retraction notice. In PubMed, the retraction information appears as a text phrase such as:
Retraction in: Clin Infect Dis. 2004 Jul 1;39(1):152.
The appearance of the retraction information varies with the display format (Summary, Abstract, etc.) with which a PubMed citation is viewed. In the MEDLINE format, the retraction information appears in the RIN (Retraction in) field. The MEDLINE citation for a retracted article (or an article that has been retracted in part) is assigned the additional Publication Type of Retracted Publication [PT].
NLM makes a reciprocal link between the retraction statement and the retracted article. The citation for the published retraction statement is indexed as Retraction of Publication [PT]. The citation information for the retracted articles appears in most PubMed displays. In the MEDLINE display, the citation information for the retracted article appears in the ROF (Retraction of) field.
Retraction Example:
Retraction:Retracted article:Pediatrics. 2007 Sep;120(3):698.
Retraction of:
Kain ZN, MacLaren J. Pediatrics. 2007 Mar;119(3):608-10.
P less than .05: what does it really mean?
Kain ZN, MacLaren J.
PMID: 17766554 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Pediatrics. 2007 Mar;119(3):608-10.
Retraction in:
Kain ZN, MacLaren J. Pediatrics. 2007 Sep;120(3):698.
P less than .05: what does it really mean?
Kain ZN, MacLaren J. Center for the Advancement of Perioperative Health and Department of Anesthesiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT 06510, USA. zeev.kain@yale.edu
PMID: 17332213 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Partial Retractions
Sometimes only a single graph or table or statement is retracted for an article. Or authors may realize that they have drawn the wrong conclusions from their research, and wish to subsequently retract those conclusions, even though all of the scientific data reported in an article is sound and valid.
Such partial retractions are explicitly identified in MEDLINE with the explicit information “Partial retraction of:” and “Partial retraction in:”. The Publication Types of Retraction of Publication [PT] and Retracted Publication [PT] are applied to the retraction notice and the citation for the partially retracted article, because the definition of these Publication Types as always been “in whole or in part”.
To be eligible for partial retraction, the retraction notice must be labeled “Retraction in Part” or “Partial Retraction” or with a similar label, or the text of the retraction notice must explicitly state that a single statement or specific text, or single or multiple (but not all) table(s) or graph(s) or figure(s) or specific data is being retracted. By contrast, a full retraction of an entire article explicitly states that the article itself is being retracted. It must be abundantly clear and unambiguous that only a portion of the article is being retracted, or the policies for full retraction of the article will be followed.
In the MEDLINE display in PubMed, the partial retraction information appears in the PRIN (Partial retraction in) field and PROF (Partial retraction of) field.
Partial Retraction Example:
Partial retraction:
Science. 2007 Aug 10;317(5839):748.
Partial retraction of:
Baldini JU, McDermott F, Fairchild IJ. Science. 2002 Jun 21;296(5576):2203-6.
Retraction of an interpretation.
Baldini JU, McDermott F, Fairchild IJ.
PMID: 17690274 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Partially retracted article:
Science. 2002 Jun 21;296(5576):2203-6.
Partial retraction in:
Baldini JU, McDermott F, Fairchild IJ. Science. 2007 Aug 10;317(5839):748.
Structure of the 8200-year cold event revealed by a speleothem trace element record.
Baldini JU, McDermott F, Fairchild IJ. Department of Geology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. james.baldini@ucd.ie
PMID: 12077412 [PubMed]
Corrected and Republished Articles
Occasionally, a journal may correct or amplify a previously-published article by republishing the article in its entirety, often to rectify an editorial or printing error in the original article. NLM creates a new citation for the republished article and indexes it with the additional Publication Type of Corrected and Republished Article [PT]. Text information appears in the PubMed citations for the original and republished articles (see examples below), and a link is created between them. In the MEDLINE display in PubMed, the correction information appears in the CRI (Corrected and republished in) field and CRF (Corrected and republished from) field.
Corrected and Republished Example:
Corrected and republished article:Original article:J Comp Neurol. 2000 Nov 6;427(1):461-80.
Corrected and republished from:
J Comp Neurol. 2000 Jun 12;421(4):461-80.
Publication Types:
Corrected and Republished Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PMID: 11183875 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
J Comp Neurol. 2000 Jun 12;421(4):461-80.
Corrected and republished in:
J Comp Neurol. 2000 Nov 6;427(1):461-80.
Formation of cadherin-expressing brain nuclei in diencephalic alar plate divisions.
Yoon MS, Puelles L, Redies C.
Institute of Anatomy, University Hospital Essen, Germany.
Publication Types:
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PMID: 10842209 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Duplicate Publication
NLM identifies an article that substantially duplicates another article without acknowledgement by assigning both articles the Publication Type of Duplicate Publication [PT]. Such articles have one or more authors in common and a substantial amount of duplicated text. Duplication may occur intentionally, to achieve wider dissemination of an article such as a policy statement, or inadvertently, through multiple submission of a manuscript to different journals.
The Publication Type of Duplicate Publication [PT] may be added to a citation with or without a formal notification from authors or journal editors. In the indexing process, indexers sometimes recognize duplicates or very similar publications. If inspection of the potentially duplicative articles indicates a substantial amount of overlap, the Publication Type will be added. However, NLM does not routinely examine articles for originality.
A notice of duplicate publication is sometimes published within a journal when an occurrence of duplicate publication is discovered. Such notices are cited in MEDLINE and indexed with the MeSH subject heading Duplicate Publication as Topic [MH], and comment linkages are created to each of the citations for the duplicate articles.
Example of Duplicate Publication:
First citation:Second citation:Cesk Slov Oftalmol. 1999 Nov;55(6):372-6.
[Use of citation indexes and impact factors]
[Article in Czech]
Pitterová K. Knihovna AV CR, Praha.
Publication Types:
Duplicate Publication
English Abstract
PMID: 10677906 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Cesk Patol. 1999 Oct;35(4):144-6.
[Use of science citation indexes and impact factors]
[Article in Czech]
Pitterová K. Knihovna AV CR, Praha.
Publication Types:
Duplicate Publication
English Abstract
PMID: 10677915 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Comments
Comments are substantive articles, letters or editorials that challenge, refute, support, or expand upon another published item. Among the types of articles that will be considered comments are: invited comments on another (usually previously-published) article, letters to the editor that were inspired by a previous article, articles that provide additional information to previous articles, and announcements or notices that report questionable science or investigations of scientific misconduct (sometimes published as “Expression of concern”). A mere mention of one or more articles in the text or references does not constitute a comment. The commenting article must have been written primarily for the purpose of making a comment—that is, of drawing the reader’s attention to the referent article. A commenting citation is indexed with the Publication Type of Comment [PT]. Beginning in 1989, NLM has created bibliographic linkages in MEDLINE between commenting articles and the articles to which they refer.
Specific text in the PubMed citations for a comment and corresponding article indicates their relation (see examples below). In the MEDLINE display in PubMed, this information appears in the CIN (Comment in) field and CON (Comment on) field.
In general, NLM limits linkages to comments that are published in the same journal as the article to which they refer. The commenting article is indexed independently; that is, it may or may not be indexed with the same MeSH subject headings as the article to which it refers, depending upon its actual subject content.
One exception to the general policy on comments concerns articles that consist of a substantive summary and analytical evaluation of another recently published article, especially in relation to evidence based medicine. Some journals are largely devoted to such articles, such as the ACP Journal Club. For such articles, linkages are made to other journal titles. (Prior to 2002, the comment was only on the citation to the original article, and a separate citation for the published analysis was not created.)
Comment Examples:
Comment on another article:Original article with comment link:Am J Cardiol. 2000 Oct 15;86(8):896.
Comment on:
Am J Cardiol. 2000 Jun 15;85(12):1401-8.
Factor VIIa as a predictor of cardiac events following myocardial infarction in women.
Peverill RE.
Publication Types:
Comment
Letter
PMID: 15603054 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Am J Cardiol. 2000 Jun 15;85(12):1401-8.
Comment in:
Am J Cardiol. 2000 Oct 15;86(8):896.
Publication Types:
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
PMID: 10856383 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Author Responses to Comments
Frequently, a published letter that NLM considers a comment will be immediately followed by a response written by the author(s) of the original article. NLM does not create or index separate citations for such published author responses (most often, such responses do not have separate or unique titles, or appear as separate entities in the journal table of contents). Instead, the pagination for the author response is included in the citation for the commenting letter, and specifically indicated with the text “author reply” (see example below). Although such replies are not indexed separately for MEDLINE, the content of any substantive discussion provided in the response is considered when MeSH subject headings are assigned to the citation.
Author Response to Comment Example:
NLM includes an author response to a comment as part of the pagination for the comment citation, as seen in this PubMed display:
J Clin Oncol. 2001 May 1;19(9):2578; author reply 2580-2.
Comment on:
J Clin Oncol. 2000 Nov 15;18(22):3748-57.
J Clin Oncol. 2000 Nov 15;18(22):3758-67.
Is anastrozole superior to tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer?
Copur MS, Ledakis P, Bolton M, Norvell M, Muhvic J.
Publication Types:
Comment
Letter
PMID: 11331343 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Authors who wish to cite their replies as a separate item may add the note "Included with PubMed PMID ########." after the bibliographic citation to their response. Authors are encouraged to follow this format:
Nabholtz JM, Bonneterre J, Buzdar A, Robertson JF, Thurlimann B, Steinberg M, Webster A, von Euler M.
Is anastrozole superior to tamoxifen as first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer? Reply to Copur MS, et al. [letter]
J Clin Oncol. 2001 May 1;19(9):2580-2. Included with PubMed PMID 11331343.
Updated Articles
Articles that update previous articles are linked and indicated with the text “Update of” and “Update in” (see examples below). The article must explicitly state that it is an updated version of a specific previously published article or must appear in a journal that routinely publishes such updates as its primary content. NLM began to distinguish the updates with articles published in 2001 forward. In the MEDLINE display in PubMed, the information appears in the UOF (Update of) field or UIN (Update in) field.
Update Examples:
Update:Original article:Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Jan 23;(1):CD005283.
Update of:
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005;(2):CD005283.
Biocompatible hemodialysis membranes for acute renal failure.
Alonso A, Lau J, Jaber BL.
PMID: 18254074 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Apr 18;(2):CD005283.
Update in:
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008;(1):CD005283.
Biocompatible hemodialysis membranes for acute renal failure.
Alonso A, Lau J, Jaber BL.
PMID: 15846749 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Patient Summaries
A few journals indexed for MEDLINE routinely publish “patient” summaries of full articles that appear in the same journal issue. The summaries are intended for patients or the lay public to explain in non-technical terms the scientific or medical findings reported in the full article.
Separate citations are created in MEDLINE for these “patient” summaries, and the citations are indexed with the Publication Type of Patient Education Handout [PT]. The citations are also linked to the corresponding citation for the full, scientific article, and appear with the text “Summary for patients in” and “Original report in” (see examples below). In the MEDLINE display in PubMed, the information appears in the SPIN (Summary for patients in) field or ORI (Original report in) field.
Example of Patient Summary Links:
Patient summary:Original article:Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar 18;138(6):I40.
Original report in:
Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar 18;138(6):445-52.
Summaries for patients. Who benefits from implantable heart defibrillators? [No authors listed]
Publication Types:
Patient Education Handout
PMID: 12639107 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar 18;138(6):445-52.
Comment in:
ACP J Club. 2003 Sep-Oct;139(2):31.
Ann Intern Med. 2003 Dec 16;139(12):W84; author reply W85.
Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar 18;138(6):512-4.
Summary for patients in:
Ann Intern Med. 2003 Mar 18;138(6):I40.
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators in primary and secondary prevention: a systematic review of randomized, controlled trials.
Ezekowitz JA, Armstrong PW, McAlister FA.
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H7, Canada.
Publication Types:
Meta-Analysis
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review
PMID: 12639076 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Republished (Reprinted) Articles
Journals occasionally republish (i.e., reprint) a significant article that was recently published in another journal. Such republished or reprinted articles are cited in MEDLINE, and a "Republished from:" and "Republished in:" link is created between the citations for the original and republished citation. The republished citation is not indexed with MeSH headings.
This policy applies if there is an explicit indication that the article is being republished or reprinted, even if it is being republished in an abridged or different version than the original. (However, there is a distinction from corrected and republished articles, for which a different policy and pair of citation links is used—see above.) This policy also differs from the citation of an historically significant article in MEDLINE as a Classical Article [Publication Type]. Classical articles are published for historic reasons, and usually were originally published decades ago; republished articles contain contemporary information worthy of wide dissemination.
This policy does not apply to content that is routinely published in each issue of a journal, such as items from MMWR that are published in each weekly issue of JAMA, or to "Cochrane Pages" in each issue of some journals that routinely publish summaries from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, or similar material. Such routinely reprinted matter is not cited in MEDLINE for a second time.
This policy for republished articles began with journal issues published in 2006. In the MEDLINE display in PubMed, the information appears in the RPF (Republished from:) field or RPI (Republished in:) field.
Republished (Reprinted) Example:
Republication:Original article:Evid Based Nurs. 2008 Apr;11(2):39-40.
Republished from:
Evid Based Med. 2008 Feb;13(1):4-5.
When should we start oral intake in children with severe acute pancreatitis?
Carreazo NY, Ugarte K, Bada C.
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Perú. Servicio de Pediatría - Hospital de Emergencias Pediátricas, Lima, Perú.
PMID: 18364410 [PubMed]
Evid Based Med. 2008 Feb;13(1):4-5.
Republished in:
Evid Based Nurs. 2008 Apr;11(2):39-40.
When should we start oral intake in children with severe acute pancreatitis?
Carreazo NY, Ugarte K, Bada C.
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Perú. Servicio de Pediatría - Hospital de Emergencias Pediátricas, Lima, Peru.
PMID: 18234913 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
For further information about Errata, Retractions, Partial Retractions, Corrected and Republished Articles, Duplicate Publications, Comments, Updates, Patient Summaries and Republished (Reprinted) Articles in MEDLINE, please contact:
- Head, Index Section
- National Library of Medicine
- Bethesda, Maryland 20894
- Phone: 301-496-3262
- Fax: 301-402-2433
- e-mail: james_marcetich@nlm.nih.gov (james_marcetich@nlm.nih.gov)
A complete list of NLM Fact Sheets is available at:
Alphabetical list: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsheets.html
Subject list: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsubj.html
Or write to:
FACT SHEETS
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
National Library of Medicine
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email: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov
Last reviewed: 08 October 2008
Last updated: 08 October 2008
First published: 06 March 2002
Metadata| Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content