We have been notified that an erratum is about to be published on a Research article in Journal A, which is one of the key references supporting a Review article subsequently published in Journal B. All parties are agreed that the erratum (which corrects an oversight in reporting methodology) in no way affects either the data presented in the paper or the conclusions reached.
Questions for COPE Council
- Does Journal B have to take any action based on this notification of the impending erratum e.g. should it publish an ‘erratum’ or ‘notice’ on the Review article that draws the readers' attention to the erratum on the cited Research article in Journal A?
- Is such an action common or standard practice?
Advice on this case is from a small number of COPE Council Members. Most cases on the COPE website are presented to the COPE Forum where advice is offered by a wider group of COPE Members and COPE Council Members. Advice on individual cases is not formal COPE guidance.
Council advised that there is no need for an erratum if the conclusions are unaffected. The erratum in journal A should be linked to the research article so that if readers should look up the article, they will see what has happened. So, the erratum only needs to be linked to the research article.
The authors of the review article could also decide whether or not they want to submit an erratum to the review. But in this case, it would seem unnecessary.