Ethics – Writer's Camp

DaiWai M. Olson, RN PhD CCRN FNCS

At the Trailhead

Why this matters: Editors must know how to correct the scholarly record quickly and appropriately when errors occur.
What judgment this supports: Not all errors require retraction; understanding when to issue an erratum, corrigendum, or expression of concern is an essential editorial judgment.
How an editor might use this: Use this guidance to determine when an erratum is appropriate and to implement a clear, consistent correction process.

Why is an erratum like a fire extinguisher? Because they both should be kept handy and used without hesitation—but only when necessary. Everyone should own, and know how to use, a fire extinguisher. Equally important, every editor should have at their disposal, and know how to use, an erratum. An erratum (plural: errata) is a printing error. More clearly, an erratum is something that we as editors publish in our journals as a way to recognize and acknowledge that a printing error has been made.

A Little Background

In old Latin the word errare meant to err. In Latin, errata corrige translates roughly to error correction. Somewhere around 500 years ago four things happened in fairly rapid succession: first, the printing press was invented; second, Simon de Colines made a few errors while printing a text on veterinary medicine and decided to include a list of Erratorum Recognitio (recognition of errors); third, with more printing presses came more printing errors; and fourth, the erratum became a standardized way for the printer to own the error.

Early publishers did not view errata as evidence of bad behavior. Nor did this self-imposed recognition of errors indicate substandard professional practice. Humans are gloriously imperfect, and the early printing process required using a mirror image of what you wanted to print. Errors happened, and within a given range, they were both expected and acceptable. Fast forward 500-plus years to internet technology backed by artificial intelligence (AI) and we still have the occasional printing error. These errors can be big or small. A few common examples are: mislabeling or misnumbering a figure or table; misspelling an author’s name; errors in numerical data that do not result in changing the interpretation of the outcome. As an editor, you should know that an erratum indicates that an error was made by the editor or publisher, whereas an error made by the author is presented to the reader as a corrigendum.