Article withdrawal & correction
Your published work is considered a permanent version of record. Follow our guidelines if you need to edit or withdraw your work.
General principles
We believe in protecting the integrity of our content and the role publishers play in scholarly discussion. The articles and book chapters published online, including via EarlyCite, and in print are considered to be the ‘Version of Record’: the permanent bibliographic 'minutes' of academic research, and are citable via a DOI.
To ensure and maintain a single, definitive version of the publication record available in the public domain, Emerald will not make changes to an article once it has been published online, including via EarlyCite. This policy enables us to preserve the integrity of our published content. Corrections will only be made in the form of a post-publication notice, which will be shown on the PDF of the article/chapter and before the paywall on Emerald Insight. Only corrections that are essential to the meaning of the content and its accurate interpretation will be considered (where the article's overall results and conclusions are upheld and there are no concerns about the reliability or integrity of the work), along with those related to the article’s metadata, which would affect its discoverability on third-party abstracting and indexing sites. Please see our guidelines below on post-publication corrections and article withdrawal for additional information.
If a significant error is discovered after online publication, you should contact the journal’s Supplier Project Manager who will determine with the Publisher, in conjunction with the Editor, whether a post-publication notice is required. Corrections are not made directly to the online article; instead, the correction notice will provide clear details of the error and the changes that should be made affecting the Version of Record.
Significant changes to the authorship information may, however, not be possible in accordance with COPE guidelines, and will require investigation before being permitted. Author affiliation details, as per industry standards, should be accurate to where the research was conducted.
Please be aware that minor copy-editing, stylistic, or typographical errors that do not significantly affect the article’s scientific integrity, understanding, or indexing do not warrant a post-publication correction; the Publisher, in conjunction with the journal’s Editor, will determine whether an error is significant enough to merit correction. We will only make changes for errors that affect the understanding or integrity of the article, or the reputation of the journal. Significant typesetting errors made after the proof stage will be considered for amendment. The version of the article accepted by the journal is the version published by Emerald as part of the permanent bibliographic record. Corrections will only be made within 12 months of the original publication; after 12 months has elapsed, corrections will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and published at Emerald’s and the Editor’s discretion.
We are unable to publish an addendum for new data beyond the article’s original scope or for changes in interpretation following the original publication. If an error invalidates the article’s findings, the Publisher may consider a retraction rather than a correction notice as per COPE guidelines.
Withdrawal of an article
We follow the principles outlined in the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA)/International Publishers’ Association (IPA) joint statement on retraction or removal of journal articles from the web.
These make it clear that an article or chapter may only be removed from a publisher’s database if it:
- Infringes professional ethical codes such as the violation of the privacy of a research subject.
- Is subject to legal dispute.
- Includes the identification of false or inaccurate data that, if acted upon, would pose a serious health risk.
We retain the appropriate bibliographical citation of the removed content wherever possible (unless subject to legal dispute).
Correction notices
All published research is effectively a ‘snapshot’ of a moment in time, and the Version of Record cannot be updated to reflect changes, such as a change in author affiliation information post-submission or new data or findings.
However, we understand that errors are sometimes made during the research, writing, and publishing stages. When these issues arise, we have the option of introducing one of the following correction notices.
This generally refers to a production error, which has been introduced during the publication process. If an erratum is issued, it will appear on the online version of the article, prior to the paywall to ensure full transparency and visibility, and in the hard copy of the next volume or issue of the publication.
This generally refers to an author error or oversight that significantly affects the content of the article or the reader’s understanding of it. If a corrigendum is issued, it will appear on the online version of the article, prior to the paywall to ensure full transparency and visibility, and in the hard copy of the next volume or issue of the publication.
As a publisher, Emerald is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. As part of this, Emerald is constantly looking for ways to make positive changes that remove obstacles for authors. Following in the steps of the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Chemical Society, Emerald is implementing an author name change policy.
Effective immediately, if Emerald receives a request from an author wishing to change their name on a published article for any reason (including religious conversion, marriage, gender identity change or divorce), we will change the name on that article. We will not ask for further detail or the reason for the name change, however, we may sometimes require other information (such as the article citation) to make the change effectively.
We will make best efforts to adjust the name throughout the article, and if applicable, adjust any pronouns.
We will additionally provide the updated article to our third parties, and ask them to update their databases accordingly. However, we will not inform them as to how the article has changed.
Emerald will consider any name change requests by someone who is not that author as potentially harassment, and will act accordingly.
The landscape is constantly changing, and we are aware that there may be teething issues that we encounter, but Emerald will endeavour to share lessons learnt and welcomes feedback. We hope this policy will make a real difference to our authors.
A retraction notice will be issued in serious cases of ethical misconduct or where the research is seriously flawed and misleading. If issued, a retraction notice will appear on the online version of the article, prior to the paywall to ensure full transparency and visibility, and in the hard copy of the next volume or issue of the publication. Where possible, articles will remain electronically accessible, but clearly state that they have been retracted.
A note of clarification will be used when a point needs to be emphasised or clarified in the text, but it does not constitute a correction. Please note that any correction has to be highlighted as a stated erratum, corrigendum or note of clarification, and the text cannot be amended. This is designed to make it clear to the reader that there have been changes to the text, which they might have cited or referred to in their subsequent research or practice.
In cases where an ethical allegation is made and we are unable to resolve the investigation quickly, we will issue an expression of concern to the article to make it clear that an investigation is still ongoing.
In cases where an investigation’s conclusion is unclear or where we are unable to make a fair decision due to a conflict of interest or lack of information, we will publish an expression of concern regarding the article. If issued, an expression of concern will appear on the online version of the article, prior to the paywall to ensure full transparency and visibility.
