Corrections to published work

Honest errors in medical research or publication are a part of publishing and when detected, needs publication of a correction at earliest. IMJ expect authors to intimate the editor about any errors of fact which is noticed in their manuscript once it’s published. After review by editorial team, the corrections are made at the journal’s discretion.

As Publishers, the IMJ have a duty to maintain the integrity of the scientific record. For this reason, minor corrections that do not affect the scientific understanding of the paper (for example formatting or typographical errors or preference of wording) may be rejected. In addition, the correction procedure depends on the stage of manuscript process or publication stage, but in all circumstances a correction notice is published as soon as possible:

 Ahead of print version:

Published ahead of print (or The Online First) version is considered the version of record, and not an opportunity to make changes prior to print publication. IMJ will consider replacing this version with the corrected (updated) version and notes the changes that have been made and the date(s) on which the changes were made (in a correction notice at the end of the article). Previous electronic versions prominently note that there are more recent versions of the article. The correction notice will be retained in the print version for record.

 Publication in an issue:

In a printed article (Hard copy version), a correction notice will be printed in the next available print issue. The online version of the article will link to the correction notice, and vice versa.

 Retractions of research paper:

Retractions are considered by the editors or editorial team in cases of evidence of plagiarism, unreliable findings or data, duplicate publication, and unethical research. The team editorial board may consider an expression of concern notice if submitted manuscript is under investigation. All retraction notices explain why the article was retracted. The retraction procedure depends on the publication stage of the article: 

Ahead of print version: 

A new version of the manuscript will be posted containing just the metadata, with a retraction note replacing the original text. A retraction notice will also be published in the next available print issue. The original text of article will remain accessible.

 Publication in an issue or a continuous publication journal

A replacement version of the article will be posted containing just the metadata, with a retraction note replacing the original text. The PDF will be replaced with a version watermarked with “Retracted” but the original text will remain accessible. A retraction notice will also be published in the next available print issue.

In rare cases, the journal may have to remove the original content for legal reasons. In such cases, the metadata (title and authors) will be available but test will be replaced with a note mentioning that the article has been removed for legal reasons. A retraction notice will also be published online and/or in print.

Retraction notices are indexed and linked to the original records in Medline and Web of Science if applicable.

 Author name change requests

As per policy, the IMJ wishes to ensure a smooth process to facilitate any change in author name after publication in an issue. As per policy, the authors may change their name for different genuine reasons, for example marriage, divorce, change in religion, change in gender identity, and any other personal reasons. As part of our author’s name change policy, the IMJ will seek to uphold the following guidelines.

• As name change is a deeply personal decision and its possible that an individual may not wish to disclose this change to a large audience. We give option to the author to update their name with or without notice of correction. Unless explicitly requested, the journal will not include correction notice in any journal’s format.

In respecting right to privacy, the journal will not inquire the reasons for the name change or ask for any legal name change document. However, the authors must confirm through signed letter that they are requesting the change on behalf of themselves.

• The journal will not request the approval of any co-authors on the paper to update the name.
• As part of any author name change request, IMJ will endeavor to make any necessary changes to all references to the author’s identity, for example, email address, pronouns, images, authorship byline or any other occurrence within the body of their paper.
• IMJ recommends using an ORCID id to authors who change their name and want to ensure that all of their prior publications are discoverable in one place.
• The journal will update the PDF and/or HTML paper versions on website. IMJ cannot control whether or when author name changes are made to other non-IMJ sites.  In this regards, if an author wishes that his work to be fully discoverable in all indexing and archiving sites under both prior and current names, than its authors responsibility to contact these indexes and databases directly.
• Unfortunately, IMJ does not have the ability to update citations in other publications for our journal papers in which a name change has been made.
• IMJ will retain an original copy of the manuscript to ensure that the requested changes have been made accurately and to be able to demonstrate what versions of the article have been published at any given point, should that be required (e.g., for legal purposes). The original version will not be made publicly available.

Updated February 17, 2022