Correction, retraction policy and editorial expressions of concern

In the case of significant errors, corrections are published in Zdravniški vestnik at the discretion of the editors. Readers who have identified such an error should send an email to the general e-mail address of the journal vestnik@szd.si, clearly stating the publication reference, title, author and section of the article, and briefly explaining the error.

Zdravniški vestnik adheres to the following policy for making corrections to the print and online versions of their peer-reviewed content. Four categories of amendments are relevant for peer-reviewed material: Erratum or Publisher Correction, Corrigendum or Author Correction, Retraction or Addendum.

-Erratum or Publisher Correction. 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 or Author Correction. 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.

-Retraction. Notification of invalid results that affect the reliability of a previously published article. The original article is marked as retracted but remains available to readers, and the retraction statement notifying readers of the invalidity of the published paper is bi-directionally linked to the original published paper.

-Addendum. Notification of additional information about a paper. Addenda are published when the editors decide that the addendum is crucial to the reader's understanding of a significant part of the published contribution. Addenda include Editorial Expression of Concern, which is an editorial statement alerting our readership to serious concerns with the published paper. Editorial Expressions of Concern are typically updated with another amendment once further information is available.

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.

All four correction types are bi-directionally linked to the original published paper. 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.

Zdravniski vestnik recognizes the importance of post-publication commentary on published research as necessary to advancing scientific discourse. Complaints, disagreements over interpretation and other matters arising should be addressed to the Chief Editor of Zdravniški vestnik. Editorial decisions for publishing such cases are based on considerations of reader interest, novelty of arguments, integrity of the publication record and fairness to the parties involved and are normally published in the Letters/Commentaries section.

We consider refutations (readers' criticisms) of primary research papers, and publish them 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 published in the Commentaries section, sometimes with a brief response from the original author(s). 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.