This guide is for students, researchers, and editors checking sources they have already selected for their own draft. It helps you catch a correction, expression of concern, or retraction before a citation carries an inaccurate claim into your submitted work.
You need the article title, author name, year, and preferably its DOI. Keep your draft and reference list open. A notice can require a change to the sentence, the in-text citation, the bibliography entry, or all three.
A correction may affect only an affiliation or may replace a result you used. A retraction is not a reason to speculate about the authors. It is a reason to read the journal's notice and reconsider how, or whether, the article supports your sentence.
1. Match the source to the exact article
Open the article named in your draft. Compare the title, authors, journal, year, volume, issue, and page range or article number with the record on screen.
This prevents a simple but costly mistake: citing a similarly titled paper, an early online version, or a database record for a different item. Find the DOI on the article page or in your reference manager. Resolve it by adding it after https://doi.org/. The DOI should lead to the current publisher record.
Do not stop at a PDF saved to your computer. A journal can publish a later notice without altering a downloaded copy.
2. Find the article status on the publisher page
Before reading the abstract, scan the publisher landing page for a status statement or related-content link. It may appear above the title, near the publication history, or beside the PDF link.
| What you find | What it tells you | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Correction, corrigendum, erratum, or publisher correction | Part of the published record changed | Open the notice and identify the changed part. |
| Expression of concern | The journal has recorded an unresolved concern | Read the notice and reconsider the claim you cite. |
| Retraction or retraction note | The journal has published a notice that affects the article's status | Read the notice. Do not leave the article as routine evidence without a clear reason. |
| Updated or version of record | The page may have a normal update or a substantive change | Follow linked notices and compare their dates. |
The label alone is not enough. A correction might repair an author name, a figure legend, a table, a calculation, or a conclusion. Your task is to learn which one.
The publisher page and formal notice are the primary records for this check. Database labels can help you find notices, but they may use abbreviated wording or display updates later.
3. Open every linked notice and record the relationship
Follow links labelled “Correction to,” “Erratum,” “Corrigendum,” “Retraction note,” “Update,” or “Related content.” Open each relevant record in a separate tab.
Then check which item is being described. “Correction to: [article title]” is usually a notice about the original article. A page described as a corrected version may be the article after revision. Do not assume the notice itself contains the corrected data.
In your source notes, record:
- The status shown for the original article.
- The DOI and publication date of each notice.
- The result, table, figure, method, author detail, or wording the notice identifies.
4. Use Crossmark as a shortcut, when it appears
Some publisher pages include a Crossmark button or status panel. Open it and look for update links. Crossmark is a Crossref service through which publishers can register information about the current status of a document and related updates. Crossref explains the service in its Crossmark guidance.
Crossmark can save time when a journal has several versions or a long publication history. If it lists a correction or retraction, follow that link and read the publisher's notice.
Its absence does not show that no notice exists. Publishers choose whether and how to use the service, and older records may not carry Crossmark information. Continue with the DOI, publisher page, and a second database check.
5. Read the notice against your own sentence
Read a correction, expression of concern, or retraction notice from start to finish. Then return to the exact sentence in your draft that cites the article.
For a correction, ask whether it changes a result, number, figure, table, sample, method, or conclusion you relied on. Check whether the notice supplies a replacement table or figure. If you copied a number into your draft, compare it with the corrected value rather than assuming the conclusion is unchanged.
For a retraction, use the reason stated in the notice if you need to describe the event. The Committee on Publication Ethics retraction guidelines state that notices should identify the retracted article and explain the reason for retraction, while avoiding defamatory language.
Do not infer motives or add labels such as “fraudulent” unless a reliable source supports that wording and it is necessary to your subject. The publisher notice tells you what the journal has formally recorded.
6. Check one independent index for missed links
Search the article title or DOI in a database used in your field. For biomedical articles, PubMed can show linked records such as “Erratum in,” “Retraction in,” and “Expression of concern in.” The U.S. National Library of Medicine describes these linked-citation practices in its policy guidance for errata and retractions.
Use the second record to locate notices you missed, not to overrule the journal's formal notice. Compare the article title, journal, DOI, and dates before treating a link as relevant. A notice may appear long after the original publication.
For other subjects, use a field database or library catalogue that indexes the journal. If it points to an update, return to the publisher notice before changing your draft.
7. Revise only the claim the record affects
Make the smallest revision that leaves your wording accurate. If a correction does not affect your point, the original citation may remain appropriate, but use the corrected value, figure, or wording where relevant.
If the correction changes the result you cited, revise the claim to match the corrected record. If the article is retracted, remove it as support for the factual claim. Read another valid source yourself before using it to support a replacement claim. If no suitable source supports the original wording, narrow or remove the claim.
When the retraction is your subject, state that plainly. For example: “The journal later retracted the 2018 article.” Cite the retraction notice as required by your course, journal, or publisher style.
Avoid saying that a study was “controversial” when a specific correction or notice explains the issue. Avoid presenting a corrected result as though it came from the uncorrected article.
8. Repair the reference list and save a brief audit note
Update the bibliography after revising the prose. Check the author list, title, journal details, DOI, and any version information against the publisher record. Follow the citation instructions for your assignment, journal, or publisher on whether the correction notice needs a separate reference.
Save a short private note: the date you checked the source, the publisher URL, the notice DOI or URL, and the change you made. This gives you a clear record if an editor, supervisor, or collaborator asks why the sentence changed.
Before submitting, check:
- I matched each important citation to the exact article record.
- I resolved the DOI instead of relying only on a saved PDF.
- I checked the publisher page for corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.
- I opened and read every relevant notice.
- I used Crossmark when available, without treating its absence as proof of no update.
- I checked a second index for linked notices.
- I revised every claim, number, quotation, or figure affected by a notice.
- I removed retracted articles as ordinary support.
- I updated in-text citations and reference entries to match the record I verified.
- I saved a brief note of what I checked.
