To check whether figures in a paper have been corrected, start by examining the paper's version history on the publisher's website or preprint server, where corrections are typically documented in an official erratum or corrigendum notice.
Check the Publisher's Website
Most journals maintain a complete publication record for each article. Look for:
- Correction notices or errata linked directly from the article page
- Version numbers or dates indicating updates (common in open-access journals)
- "Article history" sections showing submission, revision, and correction dates
Publishers like Springer, Elsevier, and PLOS typically flag corrected articles with a banner at the top of the page linking to the correction notice.
Compare Preprint and Published Versions
If the paper appeared first on arXiv, bioRxiv, or another preprint server, compare the preprint figures with the final published version. Authors often update figures during peer review, but significant post-publication corrections should be formally documented.
Search PubMed and Retraction Databases
For biomedical papers, PubMed links correction notices directly to the original article record. You can also search:
- Retraction Watch Database for serious figure manipulation cases
- PubPeer for community-flagged concerns about specific figures
Contact the Authors Directly
If you suspect an issue but find no correction notice, email the corresponding author. Researchers are generally responsive to legitimate questions about their data and figures.
Use Image Forensics Tools
For suspected manipulation, basic forensics tools can detect duplicated regions or inconsistent lighting. However, this requires technical expertise and should be approached cautiously—many apparent anomalies have innocent explanations like compression artifacts.
When organizing papers with known corrections, WisPaper's My Library automatically extracts and syncs metadata including version information, making it easier to track which version of a paper you're referencing and ensuring your citations reflect the most current record.
