Corrections & Crossmark Policies

Version of Record

When an article is published in its final form it is considered the “Version of Record” (VoR). The VoR establishes the expectation that that article can be relied upon as accurate, complete, and citable. SAGE is committed to preserving the integrity and transparency of the VoR. SAGE defines the VoR as (i) the article paginated in a volume and issue or (ii) the initial article publication for continuous publication Open Access journals; in both cases, the VoR includes any post-publication corrections.  (Continuous publication Open Access journals do not publish any additional versions such as paginated issue/volume versions.)

Postpublication Corrections 

As articles can be read and cited as soon as they are published (including OnlineFirst publication), any changes thereafter could potentially impact those who read and cited the earlier version. SAGE provides authors with an opportunity to review article proofs prior to publication with the express goal of ensuring accuracy of the content. However, in some cases corrections may be required post-publication. These may be made at the discretion of the journal and SAGE, with the understanding that not all requests for post-publication changes will be permitted.

Most approved changes to the final article will be accompanied by some form of notification to the reader. Notification may consist of a footnote within the corrected article to highlight the change(s) for minor errors.

Any errors of factual significance will be highlighted with the publication of a separate corrigendum (author error) or erratum (publisher error) in order to ensure greater transparency. In any such cases where the article is also updated, the article will contain a footnote highlighting the change(s) and referencing the corrigendum or erratum.

Any breaches of publication ethics will be investigated and corrected in accordance with COPE guidelines. Please also see SAGE’s retraction policy here: https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/retractions-policy

Corrections to Supplemental Material files and Research Data files on Figshare

Supplemental Material files published by SAGE are considered to be permanent records. Supplemental Material files and Research Data files may be hosted on Figshare and are assigned DOIs. If there is a substantive change to a Supplemental Material file or Research Data file, SAGE may publish a notice to alert all readers. If the change is considered not to be significant then a replacement file may be released, without the need for separate notification. Versioning details will be added to the first page of the file. 

SAGE’s Crossmark Policy

Building upon our commitment of a reliable Version of Record and our Corrections policy, as outlined above, SAGE also participates in the Crossmark program. This program allows readers to quickly and easily access the status of a piece of published content, including updates, corrections, and retractions, as well as provide valuable article metadata.

On SAGE Journals you will now see the Crossmark button, as shown below, both on HTML and PDF versions of our articles. Clicking on the button makes a pop-up box appear that shows the reader the current status of the article (for example, up-to-date, updates available, or retracted), as well as also displaying any additional information or metadata SAGE has supplied to Crossmark.

In addition to applying this to new content going forward, we will also be adding the Crossmark button to content published since 2011.

Learn more about Crossmark, a multi-publisher initiative from Crossref, at https://www.crossref.org/services/crossmark/.