I am the editor of MedULA, the journal of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Andes, Venezuela. In the last issue, the printers misplaced the pages of the last paper, that is, the last page was placed as first and so on; did not number the pages and did not print the line identifying the journal (volume, issue, etc); and, finally, did not put the title and authors in the table of contents!!

So, the indexes, directories and databases do not show this paper. The eight authors are, of course, upset about this mistake. The printers sent a letter of apology. Some members of the editorial board think that a note explaining the mistake would be a way to clarify the error, but others think that it is necessary to reprint the paper in an upcoming issue with a note explaining that it is a correction of the previous mistake.

What do you think is the best way to maintain the good name of the authors and keep the good image of the journal?

Pedro José Salinas
Editor-in-Chief, MedULA (Medicina Universidad de Los Andes)
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Probably best, if finances will allow, sending out another copy of this journal, a correct edition!

An explanatory note in the next edition is a poor second choice, but better than nothing.

Sam Sussman
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It appears those responsible for the problem are the printers. I also live in an underdeveloped country, and the quality between the different printing companies varies greatly, but they must take responsibility. We have also had some experience with this kind of problem.

What we have always done is that the printer gives us a color copy of the journal (a sketch) before going into the printing machines, the editor signs this copy. By doing this the editor can be sure that the printed journal will be very similar or even better than the sketch he was given before print. If there is something too off the mark, like what happened to us with the cover of the journal a few issues ago, then the printer just has to print the cover page all over again. Fortunately I, as editor, know there is trouble sometimes in the printing process, so I frequently go  to see how the print is going. If, for instance, I see that the quality of the color pictures is substandard, or that there is some mistake like the ones you describe, then I call for the attention of the production manager, and the problem is usually solved.

I hope my experience can be of use to you and to others in the WAME listserve.

Kenneth R. Fernández Taylor
SIGNOS VITALES Magazine
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It is necessary to reprint the paper in an upcoming issue with a note explaining that it is a correction to the previous mistake. Before printing, everything should be checked or you should have a check list to prevent such mistakes.

Sadhu Charan Panda
Editor, Journal of Community Medicine
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Am I missing something here? If the printers made an error surely they have to correct it at their expense (ie, reprint).

Tim Albert
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Given the severity of the problem, it seems that reprinting the article correctly in the next issue might be the best thing to do. Issuing a "correction" or "erratum" would be difficult, since it would require the printing, at least, of the entire first (correct) page of the article, etc. However, you may need to find out what effect this may have on sites such as PubMed, etc. Will it be listed twice or appear to be duplicate publication?  If that is the case, perhaps it would be best to publish the complete, correct article in the form of an erratum.

I agree that, because this is an obvious printer error, the printer should correct it at its expense. Because the print issue is a "fait accompli," this may need to take the form of printing the article correctly in the next issue without charging you for those pages and/or without having those pages count against your page budget.

Some time ago, because of various issues in the production end of our journal, we instituted the practice of reviewing the entire issue before it went to press. Fortunately, improvements since then make this no longer necessary. Nonetheless, we always have reviewed the first proofs of articles, which come to us at the same time the authors receive them.

I hope these thoughts help.

Alice M. Landwehr
Managing Editor, The Journal of Pediatrics
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I do not know the exact business relation between your journal and the printer, but it seems to be a printer error, and they should correct it. If due to any reason, the printer can not reprint the article, a note could be a bad second choice. Those and many other problems with printers are declining with the digital era, but we still need to check the post-production quality. We pay for these services.

Rodolfo Soca
Former Director, 16 de Abril