Crossmark Update Policy
This is the update policy Brieflands deposits with every DOI. It states what Brieflands does when a published article changes, and how a reader is told. Every Brieflands journal is enabled with Crossmark: clicking the Crossmark logo on an article shows the reader whether the version in front of them is still current, and links any later notice attached to it.
Brieflands does not change a published article silently. Once an article is published, its content is fixed. Any change to the scholarly record is made by publishing a separate, citable notice with its own DOI, linked to the original in both directions, and surfaced through Crossmark.
What kinds of update Brieflands issues
| Update type | When it is used | What happens to the article |
| Correction | An error affects the record but not the reliability of the findings — an author name, an affiliation, a figure, a data point, a competing-interest statement. | The article stays as published. A Correction notice is published with its own DOI and linked to it. |
| Expression of Concern | A serious question is open and unresolved — an investigation is under way or inconclusive, and the evidence does not support retraction. Referral of a published article to the Secondary Ethics Committee triggers one. | The article stays available and unchanged apart from the notice, which is later replaced by a correction, a retraction, or a notice of resolution. See Expressions of Concern. |
| Retraction | The findings are unreliable, or a serious breach of publication ethics is established. | The watermarked PDF remains the full text of record; on the HTML page the abstract remains and the body is replaced by a retraction statement, with “[Retracted Article]” added to the title and a link to the notice. The DOI keeps resolving. See Retraction Regulations. |
| Partial Retraction | A defined part of the article is unreliable while the remainder stands. | A notice identifies exactly which part is retracted; the rest of the article is unaffected. |
| Withdrawal | The article had not yet reached final publication — it was in press or Ahead of Print. Withdrawal is never available after final publication. | A withdrawal notice is published at the registered DOI, which keeps resolving. See Withdrawal Regulations and Withdrawal vs Retraction. |
| Removal | Only where a legal requirement applies — defamation, a court order, or a breach of privacy or another law. | The article remains indexed and an explanatory note is placed where the content was. This is rare and is not used as an alternative to retraction. |
How readers and authors are told
- The Crossmark logo on the article page and in the PDF shows the current status and links every notice attached to the article.
- The notice and the original article are linked in both directions, and the notice states plainly what changed and why.
- The update is deposited with Crossref, so anyone reading a copy of the article elsewhere, or reading its metadata, can see the status.
- Where the journal deposits in PubMed Central, the update is deposited there too.
- Authors of the original article are informed through the Crossmark facility and can track the notice.
Crossmark also carries record information that is added after publication without changing the article: ORCID iDs, funding data, licence details, clinical-trial registration data, peer-review information and supplementary data.
Who decides, and how to raise a concern
The Editor-in-Chief decides whether an update is issued and which type it is. Where the change follows a research-integrity concern, the decision is taken through the ethics committee procedure, which guarantees the authors seven working days to respond before a preliminary decision becomes final.
To raise a concern about a published article, submit a support ticket. Concerns are recorded and screened by the Head of the Ethics Department; see Complaints and Appeals.
Related: DOI and Crossmark · Post-publication Corrections · Publication Policy