We have recently been alerted to the fact that an article which has been reviewed as part of our service has been retracted. This is the first time this has happened and we are currently developing a guideline on how to deal with reviews of retracted articles.
We have alerted the section editors where the review was published, and we have also informed the reviewer of the article to give her/him the opportunity to comment.
We are intending to display an editorial note of retraction underneath this review to say that the article has been retracted and that the faculty has been alerted. Underneath this note, the reviewer will be able to display a follow-up comment.
Would you agree with our proposed course of action?
The Forum agreed with the proposed course of action. What is important here is that the case is flagged up as a retraction and so the reader is alerted to the situation. One suggestion was to ask the reviewer to write another, revised review. The section editors could also add a comment, so identifying the retraction.
The advised policies which members of the Forum suggested have not yet been implemented due to a massive ongoing redesign project for our website which has put many things on hold. It is unlikely this will be resolved until the new year; however, we have taken the Forum’s comments on board and intend, when the time comes, to implement the suggestions in the most thorough and transparent way possible.