CrossMark Policy Page

For Electronic Journals, Series, Conference Proceedings, and other Publications

CrossMark is a multi-publisher initiative from the CrossRef organization to provide a standard way for readers to locate the authoritative version of a document in electronic format. Applying the CrossMark icon represents a commitment by Philosophy Documentation Center to maintain the content it publishes, and alert readers to changes if and when they occur. Clicking on the CrossMark icon will inform the reader of the current status of a document and may also provide additional publication record information about the document.

We recognizes the importance of the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record to researchers and librarians, and PDC’s policies on article retraction and removal are outlined below. These policies are intended to address these concerns, taking into account current best practice in the scholarly and library communities.

PDC content that may have the CrossMark icon is restricted to current and future journal content and limited to specific types of published documents (see below). It will also only apply to content actually hosted by PDC. Forthcoming articles will not have the CrossMark icon.

DOCUMENT TYPE DESCRIPTION
Article Presentation of scholarly work that would be cited as a source by other researchers. Can include translations, interviews, presidential addresses, responses to critics, and other items. An Abstract is always appropriate for an article.
Erratum A notice in which errors are reported that were made in an earlier publication in the same journal. Can be Erratum (publishing error) but also Corrigendum (author error).
Review article Substantial description and/or evaluation of a set of published scholarship, conference presentations, instructional materials, software, or other original work. May include an abstract.
Announcement Short report or announcement of research or events, usually with a different peer-review process than other content. Can appear under many names, such as Meeting minutes, Notes, Preliminary report, etc.
Review A description and/or evaluation of published scholarship, conference presentations, instructional materials, software, or other original work.

PDC Policies on Retraction and Removal

Following the general practice of scholarly publishing, the editorial team of a learned journal is solely responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal are published. In making these decisions the editors are guided by policies of the journal’s editorial board and the relevant requirements regarding plagiarism, copyright infringement and professional conduct.

A consequence of this practice is the importance of the scholarly archive as a permanent, historic record of published scholarship. It is essential that published articles remain in existence, exact and unaltered as far as is possible. However, very occasionally circumstances may arise where a published article must later be retracted, corrected, or removed. Such actions can only occur under exceptional circumstances.

  • Article Retraction: This may occur in a clearly documented instance of infringement of a professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, or the like. Occasionally a retraction will be used to correct errors in submission or publication.

  • Article Removal: This may occur as a consequence of legal limitations upon the publisher, copyright holder or author(s). Articles may also be removed prior to online publication of the journal if electronic rights to the content cannot be secured.

    • We will revisit these policies as standards evolve and change, and welcome input from the scholarly and library communities.

    Updated: February 13, 2013