Chronicle article: Elsevier Announces New Procedures for RetractingOnline Articles

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

Readers:  We cite the article below, from the Chronicle of Higher
Education, as of possible interest to many.  The Moderators

_________________________________________________________________

This article is available online at this address:

http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003021002t.htm

              - The text of the article is below -
_________________________________________________________________

  Monday, February 10, 2003

  Elsevier Announces New Procedures for Retracting Online
  Articles

  By ANDREA L. FOSTER
    
  Elsevier Science announced new procedures last week for
  handling journal articles in its databases that are the
  product of plagiarism or other research misconduct. Librarians
  and scholars have complained that the Anglo-Dutch publisher
  was jeopardizing the integrity of scholarship by removing
  articles from its databases with little explanation.
  
  An article in The Chronicle last month (The Chronicle, January
  10) revealed how Elsevier had purged dozens of papers from its
  database and replaced them with a cryptic notice: "For legal
  reasons this article has been removed by the publisher." In
  some cases, the purged articles had been plagiarized.
  
  The publisher's new plan specifies the conditions under which
  Elsevier will replace or withdraw articles from its
  ScienceDirect database, or flag articles for problems. Daviess
  Menefee, who handles library relations for Elsevier,
  disseminated the policy in an e-mail message to librarians
  last Wednesday and Thursday.
  
  [SNIP]

_________________________________________________________________

You may visit The Chronicle as follows:

   http://chronicle.com

_________________________________________________________________
Copyright 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education