Changes to published articles
Changes to published journal content may be needed for a variety of reasons. OUP takes its responsibility to maintain the academic record seriously. OUP and OUP-published journals follow the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding all changes to published content.
Preserving the version of record
Journal content published by OUP in its final form, either as advance articles or in a journal issue, represents the published Version of Record. The research community expects this content to be accurate, stable, and citable, and so we will only make changes to it if the publication record is seriously affected by the accuracy of the originally published information.
Any change to a published article will be made with a separately published notice describing the changes. This provides readers with a clear picture of what has been changed and when, and forms an essential part of the scholarly record, regardless of how the error occurred.
Corrections
Any correction will have a separately published notice describing the changes to maintain the transparency of the scholarly record. The notice will be published online at the earliest opportunity and will be clearly linked to the Version of Record. A link will also appear on the Version of Record, notifying readers that a post-publication change has been published. For example:
Changes that are needed to content published within the last 12 months will be made directly to the original, where possible. Any changes to older content will be explained in the linked notice only, with the exception of author name changes.
Authorship changes
Authorship changes include the addition or removal of authors, changes in the order of authors, or changing who is designated as corresponding author. Both OUP and OUP-published journals follow COPE guidance for any requests to change the authorship list.
For potential changes between the time of manuscript submission and acceptance, please contact the journal directly.
For potential changes to published content, Contact Us.
Please see Changes in authorship on our Ethics page for more information.
For the avoidance of doubt, requests to change the corresponding author to qualify for Read and Publish funding will not be accepted.
Supplementary materials
Corrections to supplementary materials will be treated in the same way as corrections to other content in published papers.
Peer-review materials
For journals that publish peer-reviewer reports, corrections to published peer-review materials will not normally be made, either in the original paper, or with a separate correction notice. Changes will only be considered in exceptional circumstances where there is a serious ethical or legal issue.
Conference abstracts in journal supplements
Corrections to conference abstract proceedings in supplement issues will not normally be made, either in the original abstract or with a separate correction notice. Changes will only be considered in exceptional circumstances where there is a serious ethical or legal issue.
Retractions and removals
Content is retracted when it can no longer be considered an accurate or reliable part of the scholarly record. A separate retraction notice will explain the reason for the retraction, as well as indicate how and why this decision was taken. Retracted content will usually remain available in the paper’s PDF version, with a watermark indicating that the paper has been retracted. In rare cases the full content of a retracted paper may be removed where there is a serious ethical or legal issue.
In some instances, we will also publish a replacement version of the paper at the same time as the original is retracted.
For the retraction and removal of published content, we follow the COPE guidelines on retractions.
Expressions of Concern
Expressions of Concern are used when a journal’s editorial team wishes to notify readers of a potential problem in a paper that requires further investigation. As appropriate, these notices will be followed by an editorial note, correction, or retraction to explain further action taken.
Author name changes
OUP is committed to working with authors who wish to update their name and/or pronouns following publication, and will make such changes upon request. To update their content, authors should contact us directly. OUP will respect authors’ privacy throughout the process and will:
- Update the editable, digital versions of the relevant paper(s), including any author biographical and disclosure statements (including articles over 12 months old).
- Update the metadata associated with the paper(s) on the Oxford Academic platform.
- Make the changes without requiring a post-publication notice.
- Where possible, resupply the new metadata and updated paper(s) to indexing and discovery services, which may have their own policies regarding such changes.
Please note that this policy applies to a change of name only. Errors in names will be treated as a standard correction and will require a correction notice.
Contact us
If you would like to request a change to published content or to raise a concern, please contact [email protected]. To help us process your request, please include ‘Correction request’ and the paper’s Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in the subject line. Please also include:
- A detailed explanation of why the change is needed
- The PDF of your paper marked with the requested amendments using the ‘Comment’ feature in Adobe Acrobat.
