Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

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BCPHR — Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern
Stage 4: After Submission

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

How BCPHR handles post-publication errors, following NLM, ICMJE, and COPE guidelines.

ISSN 3068-8558 DOI 10.54111 Open Access · CC BY Updated April 2026

BCPHR issues corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions per NLM and COPE guidelines. All notices have unique citation information and DOIs. Retracted articles remain accessible with a clear retraction notice.

Why This Matters

How BCPHR Handles Post-Publication Errors

BCPHR is committed to the academic accuracy of every published manuscript. When errors are found in published work, BCPHR follows the National Library of Medicine, ICMJE, and COPE guidelines for issuing corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern. This page describes how each is handled, what notices look like, and how to bring an error to the editorial team's attention.

Three Notice Types

Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

Correction (Erratum)
Expression of Concern
Retraction

Corrections (Errata)

A correction notice is issued when an error in a published article needs to be fixed but the article's findings and conclusions remain valid. Typical corrections include factual errors, citation errors, author name corrections, or display errors introduced during typesetting.

How BCPHR Handles Corrections

  • The original article remains accessible at its original URL and DOI.
  • A separate correction notice is published with its own DOI and citation information.
  • The original article carries a clearly visible link to the correction notice.
  • The date of the correction is recorded on the article page.
  • The correction notice is indexed and discoverable through standard databases.

Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern is issued when BCPHR becomes aware of credible concerns about a published article (such as possible misconduct, irregular data, or unreliable findings) but cannot yet confirm or resolve them. The expression alerts readers that the article is under review while the investigation proceeds.

How BCPHR Handles Expressions of Concern

  • The original article remains accessible at its original URL and DOI.
  • A separate expression of concern is published with its own DOI and citation information.
  • The article page carries a clearly visible notice linking to the expression.
  • The expression remains in place until investigation concludes.
  • The investigation may result in a correction, a retraction, or removal of the expression.

Retractions

A retraction is issued when an article must be withdrawn from the scientific record due to major scientific errors, fraud, plagiarism, duplicate publication, or unethical research practices. Retractions are reserved for cases where the article's findings cannot be relied upon.

How BCPHR Handles Retractions

  • The retracted article remains accessible on the bcphr.org website with a clear "RETRACTED" watermark or banner across the page.
  • The original URL and DOI are preserved so existing citations continue to resolve.
  • A separate retraction notice is published with its own DOI and citation information, explaining the reason for retraction.
  • The retraction notice is linked from the article page and from the table of contents.
  • BCPHR alerts readers of retractions through the e-newsletter of its publisher, the Boston Congress of Public Health.
  • BCPHR follows the National Library of Medicine retraction guidelines and COPE retraction guidelines.

Why Retracted Articles Stay Online

Removing retracted articles from the website would break existing citations and obscure the scientific record. BCPHR follows NLM and COPE best practice by retaining retracted articles with clear retraction notices so the scholarly community can identify and understand the retraction.

How to Report an Error

Bringing Errors to Our Attention

If you have identified an error in a published BCPHR article, or have credible concerns about a published article, please contact the editorial team. Reports should include the article citation, the nature of the concern, and any supporting documentation. All reports are reviewed by the editorial team and may be referred to the BCPHR Advisory Board for investigation per the BCPHR Allegations of Misconduct process.

OPEN ACCESS · CC BY

Authors retain rights to their work. All BCPHR manuscripts are freely available without charge. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to full texts without prior permission from the publisher or author.

BCPHR Aligns with the Following International Publishing Standards. (Click to Open)
What is PIE-J? PIE-J stands for Presentation & Identification of E-Journals, a National Information Standards Organization Recommended Practice (NISO RP-16-2013). It defines how online journals should present title history, ISSN, publication dates, and edition numbering so that librarians, indexing services, and citation databases can unambiguously identify and cite content. BCPHR follows PIE-J for its edition-to-year crosswalk and article-level identifier consistency, as recommended by PubMed Central.