The authors of a published article have asked to have an article retracted for internal policy reasons. However, we have solicited and published an editorial which accompanies this article and specifically references it within the text. We are unsure how to handle this.
Question for COPE Council
- Does COPE have any policy or protocol for cases like this?
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.
Reasons for retractions should be clearly spelled out and considered by the editors. The statement ‘internal policy reasons’ is too vague to be seriously considered as a good reason for retraction. The question should be, is there something wrong with the content? Based on the actions of the editors to solicit an accompanying editorial, it seems that there must be some value to the article. If, however, the editors decide to retract to comply with the authors' wishes, then the editorial should link to the retraction notice, which should clearly state that the authors have retracted their article for internal policy reasons. There should be no reason to retract the editorial—it was written in good faith and presumably of value in the context of the article. Perhaps, if the authors and their institutions see the downstream consequences of their actions in writing, they will reconsider their request. For example, are the authors aware that, not only will there be a retraction notice in place of their article—it won't just disappear—but the editorial, now pointing to the retracted article will also exist? Presumably the editorial discusses the content of the article, which will make it very hard to publish the paper anywhere else. Altogether, a situation best avoided.