A publication record is not necessarily static. Publishers can issue corrections, concerns, withdrawals, retractions, or corrected republications, and PubMed can connect those records to the affected citation.
Four records that should not be collapsed together
NLM's current policy for errata, retractions, and linked citations describes how PubMed represents these relationships.
- Correction or erratum
- A citable notice correcting or adding information in an earlier publication. NLM may update citation fields when the correction affects information such as the title, author, or abstract, while corrections to article content can remain in a separately linked notice.
- Expression of concern
- An editor-issued notice raising a concern about a publication's integrity. It signals that readers should inspect the notice and later outcome; it is not the same record type as a retraction notice.
- Retraction notice
- The citable notice stating that an article is retracted or withdrawn in whole. PubMed assigns the notice its own citation and links it to the affected publication.
- Retracted publication
- The affected article. PubMed assigns this publication the Retracted Publication type and links it back to the retraction notice.
What withdrawal can mean in the record
NLM states that journals may retract or withdraw articles and creates PubMed links from information published by the journal. Because publishers can use withdrawal language in different publication contexts, read the current citation and the journal's citable notice rather than inferring a reason from the word alone.
How PubMed connects notices and citations
NLM creates reciprocal links between an original article and related records. Its policy describes phrases such as Erratum in, Expression of concern in, Retraction in, and their corresponding notice-side relationships. The PubMed User Guide explains how publication types and comment or correction information appear on citation pages.
- Open the current PubMed citation rather than relying on a search-result excerpt.
- Read notices displayed near the title and publication details.
- Follow every linked correction, concern, withdrawal, retraction, or corrected-republication record.
- Compare the title, journal, PMID, and dates so the notice and affected publication are not mistaken for one another.
- Read the notice itself for its stated scope and reason, then note the date checked.
A retraction label does not supply the cause
NLM says it does not distinguish retractions caused by honest error from those associated with misconduct or plagiarism. A reader should not assign a cause unless the official notice states it. The notice may describe pervasive error, unsupported or irreproducible data, author action, editorial action, or another basis, but the record label alone does not choose among them.
No notice is not a quality certificate
An unretracted paper is not automatically reliable, complete, or clinically applicable. It still requires evaluation of the methods, data, reporting, limitations, related evidence, and fit between the research question and the claim. NLM's PubMed disclaimer explains that inclusion does not equal endorsement and that NLM does not evaluate the quality of individual articles.
For definitions of the record labels used here, see the source-first research terminology guide.
Source record
Authoritative sources
- National Library of Medicine Errata, Retractions, and Other Linked Citations in PubMed Official policy for corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, withdrawals, and linked citations.
- National Library of Medicine PubMed User Guide Official guidance on abstract pages, publication types, and comment or correction links.
- National Library of Medicine About PubMed Official description of PubMed's citation records and scope.
- National Library of Medicine PubMed Disclaimer Official limits on endorsement, article evaluation, and medical advice.