Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections

1. Introduction

Dentaphora: Journal of Dental Perspectives and Oral Health is committed to maintaining the accuracy, transparency, reliability, and integrity of the scholarly record after publication. The journal recognizes that scientific knowledge continues to develop after an article has been published and that published work may require discussion, clarification, correction, or other editorial action when new information or concerns arise.

Dentaphora encourages constructive post-publication scholarly discussion and maintains procedures for handling corrections, retractions, Expressions of Concern, addenda, and other necessary post-publication updates. Such actions are undertaken in accordance with recognized principles of publication ethics and with the aim of preserving an accurate and trustworthy scientific record.

2. Post-Publication Discussion

Dentaphora welcomes constructive, evidence-based, and respectful discussion of articles published in the journal. Post-publication discussion may address the interpretation of findings, methodological issues, clinical implications, statistical analyses, ethical considerations, or other scientifically relevant aspects of research in dentistry and oral health.

Readers, researchers, clinicians, and other members of the scientific community may submit comments, correspondence, or Letters to the Editor concerning published articles. Such submissions should focus on scholarly issues and should not contain defamatory, personal, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate statements.

Where a post-publication comment directly concerns a published article, the authors of the original article may be invited to respond. The journal may publish the correspondence and author response when the discussion contributes meaningfully to the scientific record.

The original policy already recognizes post-publication debate and provides for Letters to the Editor, commentaries, and author responses.

3. Circumstances Requiring Post-Publication Action

A published article may require editorial action when an error, omission, new evidence, ethical concern, or integrity issue becomes known after publication.

Post-publication amendments may be considered when:

• an honest error affects the interpretation, presentation, or understanding of an article but does not invalidate its main conclusions;
• important information was unintentionally omitted;
• an error was introduced during editorial or production processing;
• new evidence raises substantial concerns regarding previously published findings;
• concerns arise regarding data integrity, research methods, statistical analyses, clinical images, radiographs, patient consent, ethical approval, authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, or duplicate publication;
• the reliability of the findings is called into question; or
• research or publication misconduct is confirmed.

These circumstances are consistent with the categories already identified in the source policy, including honest error, new critical information, and research misconduct.

4. Corrections

A correction will be published when an error or omission affects the accuracy, interpretation, or completeness of a published article but does not invalidate the article's principal findings and conclusions.

Errors may originate from the authors or from the journal during editorial or production processes.

Where appropriate, Dentaphora may distinguish between:

Corrigendum — a correction addressing an error originating from the author(s).

Erratum — a correction addressing an error introduced by the journal during editorial or production processing.

Alternatively, the journal may use the general title Correction when this provides a clearer and more consistent presentation of the scholarly record.

The original article will normally remain accessible. A clear notice will be added to indicate that a correction has been published, and the correction notice will be permanently linked to the original article.

A correction notice should clearly identify:

the article concerned, the location and nature of the error, the corrected information, and whether the correction affects the interpretation or conclusions of the study.

Correction notices will be publicly accessible and will not incur a publication fee.

This retains the substantive procedure already established in your source policy.

5. Retractions

Dentaphora may retract an article when there is clear evidence that its findings or conclusions are unreliable or when a serious breach of publication or research ethics has occurred.

Grounds for retraction may include substantial fabrication or falsification of data, major methodological or analytical errors that invalidate the conclusions, plagiarism, redundant or duplicate publication, serious image manipulation, unethical research, lack of required ethical approval or informed consent, serious breaches of patient confidentiality, or other circumstances that substantially undermine the reliability or integrity of the article.

Minor errors that do not materially affect the main findings or conclusions will generally be addressed through a correction rather than retraction. This distinction is already present in the original policy.

When an article is retracted:

the retraction notice will clearly identify the affected article; state the reason for retraction as transparently as appropriate; distinguish between honest error and misconduct where this can be established; identify who is retracting the article where relevant; and remain permanently linked to the original publication.

The retracted article will normally remain available as part of the scholarly record but will be clearly and prominently marked as Retracted.

The source policy likewise states that retracted articles should remain part of the public record while being clearly identified as retracted.

6. Expressions of Concern

Dentaphora may publish an Expression of Concern when substantial concerns arise regarding the integrity, reliability, ethical conduct, or validity of a published article but sufficient evidence is not yet available to reach a final conclusion.

An Expression of Concern may be appropriate when an investigation is ongoing, when an investigation is expected to require considerable time, when available evidence is inconclusive, or when the journal believes that readers should be alerted while additional information is being sought.

The notice will be linked to the article concerned and will describe the nature of the concern as clearly as circumstances permit.

Once the matter has been resolved, the Expression of Concern may be followed by a correction, retraction, explanatory notice, or confirmation that no further editorial action is required.

7. Addenda

An Addendum may be published when important additional information becomes available after publication and is necessary to improve the interpretation or understanding of an article, but does not constitute a correction of an error.

Requests for an addendum will be evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and may undergo editorial assessment or peer review depending on the nature of the additional information.

If accepted, an addendum will be published as a separate, citable publication and permanently linked to the original article.

8. Article Removal

Removal of a published article from the journal website will be considered only in exceptional circumstances.

Such circumstances may include serious legal violations, infringement of privacy or confidentiality, unlawful or defamatory content, court orders, or publication of information that poses a significant and immediate risk to patients, individuals, or public health.

Where an article must be removed, its bibliographic information should normally remain available together with a notice explaining why the content has been removed, insofar as legal and ethical requirements permit.

For a dental and oral-health journal, this provision is particularly relevant where published content may improperly disclose identifiable patient information, clinical images, radiographs, or confidential medical or dental records.

9. Retraction and Replacement

In exceptional circumstances, an article that has been retracted because of a substantial but honest error may be followed by a corrected and scientifically valid replacement article.

Any replacement publication must clearly disclose the history of the original article and provide a permanent link to the relevant retraction notice.

Replacement will not be used to conceal the existence of the original publication or the reason for its retraction. The source policy also permits this approach only in exceptional cases.

10. Investigation of Post-Publication Concerns

Reports of potential errors or concerns may be submitted by authors, readers, reviewers, editors, institutions, or other relevant parties.

The Editor-in-Chief will assess the concern and may request additional information from the authors, reviewers, institutions, ethics committees, or other appropriate parties.

Depending on the issue, the journal may request supporting materials such as raw data, statistical files, ethical approval documentation, informed consent documentation, clinical records, original radiographs or images, laboratory records, or other evidence required to evaluate the reliability of the publication.

Concerns involving suspected misconduct will be handled in accordance with Dentaphora's Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct Policy.

Authors are expected to cooperate with reasonable post-publication inquiries concerning their published work, an obligation also stated in the original policy.

11. Transparency and Permanent Linking

All formal post-publication notices, including Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern, and Addenda, will be:

clearly identified; publicly accessible; dated; citable where appropriate; linked electronically to the original article; and accompanied by a clear explanation of the reason for the editorial action.

The journal will seek to ensure that the status of an article is clear to readers in both the article landing page and available publication formats.

The underlying source policy similarly requires post-publication amendments to be clearly identified, promptly published, and permanently linked to the original article.

12. Discoverability and Indexing

Dentaphora will make reasonable efforts to ensure that significant post-publication changes are communicated to relevant indexing, abstracting, DOI, and bibliographic services where applicable.

Corrections, retractions, Expressions of Concern, and other formal notices should be linked to the affected article so that readers and indexing systems can identify the current status of the scholarly record.

13. Editorial Independence

Decisions concerning post-publication corrections, retractions, Expressions of Concern, or other amendments will be based on the evidence available and the integrity of the scholarly record.

Such decisions will not be influenced by the authors' academic position, institutional affiliation, nationality, professional status, or other irrelevant considerations.

Where an editor has a conflict of interest concerning a case, responsibility should be transferred to another appropriate editor or independent party.

14. Commitment to the Scholarly Record

Dentaphora: Journal of Dental Perspectives and Oral Health considers post-publication review and correction an essential part of responsible scholarly publishing. The journal is committed to correcting the literature when necessary while preserving the transparency, accessibility, and historical integrity of the published record.