Use a three-step workflow: check the publisher-maintained update record for the cited work, read any notice to confirm its scope, and revise the grant text if the notice affects the findings you rely on. Crossref Crossmark provides a way for readers to check a publisher-maintained record for updates such as corrections, retractions, and other changes to a scholarly work. COPE's retraction guidance describes the purposes, grounds, notices, and responsibilities for correcting the research literature through retraction and related actions. ICMJE advises authors to verify references against original sources, cite direct sources where possible, and identify retractions.
Step 1: Check the update record
Open the article on the publisher's site and look for a Crossmark record or an equivalent publisher update notice. Record what the record shows: no update, a correction, a retraction, or another change. If no update record appears, treat the status as unresolved and continue to the next check rather than concluding the citation is clean.
Step 2: Confirm the notice's scope
Read the full notice text, not just its label. Identify which findings, figures, or conclusions the notice addresses and whether it replaces the article or corrects part of it. A correction that touches a figure you cite has a different consequence from one that does not. Use the notice's own description of scope to decide whether your grant text depends on the affected material.
Step 3: Revise or document
If the notice affects findings your grant text relies on, revise the passage and replace the citation with a source that supports the claim. If the notice does not affect your use of the work, keep the citation and note the notice status in your reference records. Either way, end with a verified citation or a documented replacement so a co-author or reviewer can trace the decision.
What to record
For each key citation, log the date you checked, the record you consulted, the notice type, and the scope statement. This log lets you re-check time-sensitive status before resubmission and shows reviewers how each citation was confirmed.