The policy outlined on this page applies to Nature journals (those with the word "Nature" in their title). NPG publishes many other journals, each of which has separate publication policies described on its website. A current list of these journals, with links to each journal's homepage is available.

We recognize our responsibility to correct errors that we have previously published. Our policy is to consider refutations (readers' criticisms) of primary research papers, and to publish them (in concise form) if and only if the author provides compelling evidence that a major claim of the original paper was incorrect. Refutations are peer-reviewed, and where possible they are sent to the same referees who reviewed the original paper. A copy is usually also sent to the corresponding author of the original paper for signed comments. Refutations are typically published in the Communications Arising section of Nature (which is online-only) or the Correspondence section of other Nature journals, sometimes with a brief response from the original authors. Some submitted refutations are eventually published as retractions by the paper's authors. In both cases, the published refutation or retraction is linked online to the original paper, and the published paper is linked online to the refutation or retraction.

Complaints, disagreements over interpretation and other matters arising should be addressed to the editor of the journal concerned. Because debates over interpretation are often inconclusive, we do not automatically consider criticisms of review articles or other secondary material, and in the event that we decide to publish such a criticism we do not necessarily consult the original authors. Editorial decisions in such cases are based on considerations of reader interest, novelty of arguments, integrity of the publication record and fairness to the parties involved. Publication may take various forms at the discretion of the editor. The Nature Reviews journals consider correspondence relating to all review-type articles but not to Research Highlights.

Corrections are published for significant errors in non-peer-reviewed content of the Nature journals at the discretion of the editors. Readers who have identified such an error should send an email to the general email address of the journal, clearly stating the publication reference, title, author and section (eg News, Essay) of the article, and briefly explaining the error.

The Nature journals operate the following policy for making corrections to the print and online versions of their peer-reviewed content.

Publishable amendments requested by the authors of the publication are represented by a formal printed and online notice in the journal because they affect the publication record and/or the scientific accuracy of published information. Where these amendments concern peer-reviewed material, they fall into one of four categories: erratum, corrigendum, retraction or addendum, described here.

Erratum. Notification of an important error made by the journal that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors, or of the journal.

Corrigendum. Notification of an important error made by the author(s) that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors or the journal. All authors must sign corrigenda submitted for publication. In cases where coauthors disagree, the editors will take advice from independent peer-reviewers and impose the appropriate amendment, noting the dissenting author(s) in the text of the published version.

Retraction. Notification of invalid results. All coauthors must sign a retraction specifying the error and stating briefly how the conclusions are affected, and submit it for publication. In cases where coauthors disagree, the editors will seek advice from independent peer-reviewers and impose the type of amendment that seems most appropriate, noting the dissenting author(s) in the text of the published version.

Addendum. Notification of a peer-reviewed addition of information to a paper, usually in response to readers' request for clarification. Addenda are published only rarely and only when the editors decide that the addendum is crucial to the reader's understanding of a significant part of the published contribution.

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Decisions about types of correction are made by the editors of the journal that published the paper, sometimes with peer-reviewers' advice. This process involves consultation with the authors of the paper, but the editor makes the final decision about the category in which the amendment is published. Each Nature journal states the details of its procedure in the guide to authors on its own website, but all operate a broadly similar process.

When an amendment is published, it is linked bi-directionally to and from the article being corrected. For Nature, if the correction is significant, for example if a new figure is published, a PDF version of the correction is appended to the last page of the original article PDF so that the original article PDF will remain a facsimile of the printed page and readers downloading the PDF will receive the original article plus amendment. For the monthly Nature journals, a corrected PDF is posted online that includes on its final page a description of the original error and when it was corrected.

Authors sometimes request a correction to their published contribution that does not affect the contribution in a significant way or impair the reader's understanding of the contribution (a spelling mistake or grammatical error, for example). Nature journals do not publish such corrections, in print or online. The online and print versions of the article are both part of the published record and hence their original published version is preserved. Nature journals do, however, correct the online version of a contribution if the wording in the html version does not make sense when compared with the PDF version ("see left" for a figure that is an appropriate phrase for the PDF but not for the html version, for example). In these cases, the fact that a correction has been made is stated in a footnote so that readers are aware that the originally published text has been amended.

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The policy of the Nature journals is that corrections are rarely made to Advance Online Publication (AOP) articles before they appear in the print version of the journal.

If a very significant error is discovered after publication of an AOP article but before the print version has gone to press, the editors will decide whether to amend the AOP article. If a correction is made to the online version, a footnote is added to state that: first, there was an error in the AOP version of the article; second, the error has since been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions; and third, that the article will appear correctly in a forthcoming print issue. When the article is printed, it will carry a publication date in the following style: Published online: 9 January 2007; corrected 10 January 2007 (details online); doi:10.1038/nature709.

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Errata concern the amendment of mistakes introduced by the journal in editing or production, including errors of omission such as failure to make factual proof corrections requested by authors within the deadline provided by the journal and within journal policy. Errata are generally not published for simple, obvious typographical errors, but are published when an apparently simple error is significant (for example a greek mu for an 'm' in a unit, or a typographical error in the corresponding author's name).

If there is an error in the lettering on a figure, the usual procedure is to publish a sentence of rectification. A significant error in the figure itself is corrected by publication of a new corrected figure as an erratum. The figure is republished only if the editor considers it necessary for a reader to understand it.

Corrigenda are judged on their relevance to readers and their importance for the published record. Corrigenda are published after discussion among the editors (typically including the editors who handled the published contribution), often with the help of peer-reviewers. All coauthors must sign an agreed wording.

Corrigenda submitted by the original authors are published if the scientific accuracy or reproducibility of the original paper is compromised; occasionally, on investigation by the editors, these may be published as retractions. In cases where some coauthors decline to sign a corrigendum or retraction, the editors reserve the right to publish it with the dissenting author(s) identified. Nature journals publish corrigenda if there is an error in the published author list, but not for overlooked acknowledgements.

Readers wishing to draw the journal's attention to a significant published error should submit a Communications Arising (in the case of Nature) or, in the case of the other Nature journals, submit as a Correspondence. This procedure is a mechanism for investigating readers' comments and does not imply that the comment will be published. In cases where a significant error is confirmed after taking the advice of peer-reviewers, such comments will be published in one of the categories of amendment described here.

Addenda are judged on the significance of the addition to the interpretation of the original publication. Addenda do not contradict the original publication, but if the authors inadvertently omitted significant information available to them at the time, this material will be published as an addendum after peer-review and after discussion among the editors.

Retractions are judged according to whether the main conclusion of the paper no longer holds or is seriously undermined as a result of subsequent information coming to light of which the authors were not aware at the time of publication. In the case of experimental papers, this can include further experiments by the authors or by others that do not confirm the main experimental conclusion of the original publication. Readers wishing to draw the editors' attention to published work requiring retraction should first contact the authors of the original paper and then write to the journal, including copies of the correspondence with the authors (whether or not the correspondence has been answered). The editors will seek advice from reviewers if they judge that the information is likely to draw into question the main conclusions of the published paper.

Nature journal editorials about correction policy:

Nature Medicine: The long road to retraction

Nature Cell Biology: Policy matters/policies that matter

Nature Neuroscience: Setting the record straight

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As soon as a Nature journal has agreed to publish a correction to a published paper, the author can contact the reprint department by email, including the full publication reference in the message. Reprints can be altered to provide the corrected version if notification is received in time.

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In the Nature journals, authors' corrections to supplementary information (SI) are made only in exceptional circumstances (for example major errors that compromise the conclusion of the study). Published corrections to SI are usually accompanied by a printed Corrigendum note. Authors cannot update SI because new data have become available or interpretations have changed, as the SI is a peer-reviewed and integral part of the paper, and hence part of the published record.

SI cannot be amended between acceptance and publication unless a change made for technical reasons by the journal in order to publish the material on the website has introduced a significant error.

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The entire guide for Editorial Policies is available in PDF format.