Retraction and Correction of Published Papers

Retraction and Correction of Published Papers

Revista Española de Podología allows the discussion and critical analysis of their papers once they have been published by means of letters to editor section (together with authors reply) or in its web page. This allow readers to express theirs doubts, comments or alternatives views to the results once they have been published. This idea was expressed in an editorial letter published in the journal that showed the policy of the journal in this regard.

Related to the postpublication process of the journal, the journal has adopted a clear policy about retraction and correction of papers published. Retraction and correction are tools of the scientific literature to warn readers about papers that have mistakes or flawed in their contents which makes conclusions not reliable. These errors can be derived from honest authors with naive mistakes or because of a deliberate misconduct. It is important to point out that the main objective of retraction is to correct the literature and to ensure its integrity and not to punish authors. Retractions can be used to alert readers about cases of duplicate publication, plagiarism, peer review manipulation, improper copyrighted material use, misconduct or non declared important conflict of interests that, in the editor opinion, would influence in the interpretation or recommendation of the author conclusions. Revista Española de Podología would follow the guides of retraction and correction and flow diagrams established by COPE in this regard.

The journal will consider retracting a publication if:

• There are clear evidences that the findings are not reliable, either as a result of major error (eg, miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (eg, of data) or falsification (eg, image manipulation).
• It constitutes plagiarism.
• The findings have previously been published in other journal without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (ie, cases of redundant publication).
• It contains copyright material or data without authorization for use.
• It reports unethical research.
• It has been published solely on the basis of a compromised or manipulated peer review process.
• The authors have failed to disclose a major competing interest that, in the view of the editor, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Retractions of papers would not be carried out if:

• The authorship is disputed but there is no reason to doubt the validity of the findings.
• The main findings of the work are still reliable and correction could sufficiently address errors or concerns.
• An editor has inconclusive evidence to support retraction, although there are some concerns about the paper or the publication process. In that case, the journal can publish an Expression of Concern about the manuscript.
• Author conflicts of interest have been reported to the journal after publication, but in the editor’s view these are not likely to have influenced interpretations or recommendations, or the conclusions of the article.