Re: Elsevier's Vanishing Act

[David Goodman <dgoodman@princeton.edu>]

I hardly need add to what has been said about the need for the integrity
of the scholarly record, or the responsibility of a scholarly publisher or
library.

Print articles do not disappear in the cases mentioned. Electronic
journals offer the opportunity to do better than print--to attach
permanently to the article a notice of the retraction and the reason. I'd
certainly use a link, as has been suggested, but I would propose doing yet
more: an overprint or header so that all printed copies would carry the
notice.

This would serve to deter misconduct, to warn of fraud, to publicize
misconduct, to apologise for plagiarism.  The instances of true public
danger have so far been approximately zero--and once the article is
published at all, the danger is irretrievable. I would not like any
governmental body in, say, the PRC, to decide on what published
scholarship constitutes a public danger. Obvious a court or the equivalent
can force a publisher, but there is nothing to gain by anticipating this.
The protection here is replica servers in many locations, so no government
can reach them all.

I congratulate Elsevier for having come as far as it has. As I understand
their current guidelines, the Human Immunology article would not have been
removed. Simultaneously, I would encourage them to go further, along the
lines just outlined. The only acceptable policy is to remove nothing.

Publishers can adequately protect themselves by better editing and
reviewing, which would have prevented all the cas es mentioned.

The best step at this point is for Elsevier to restore the material. This
will prove a much more convincing statement than any merely verbal
reassurance.  It will be consistent with their position in the profession,
and will also be an excellent precedent for the future -- for all
publishers.
 
My personal view. 

Dr. David Goodman
Princeton University 
and
Palmer School of Library & Information Science, Long Island University
dgoodman@princeton.edu