Correction of scientific literature: Too little, too late!

by Lonni Besançon, Elisabeth Bik, James Heathers, Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the limitations of the current scientific publication system, in which serious post-publication concerns are often addressed too slowly to be effective. In this Perspective, we offer suggestions to improve academia’s willingness and ability to correct errors in an appropriate time frame. Four scientists who have identified issues in published papers struggled to get them amended or retracted; here they present evidence that these struggles are widely shared and that scientific advances are presently critically hindered. They make suggestions for academic actors that would help scientists raise concerns about submissions and improve academia’s correction rate and speed.