PSH Crossmark Policy

Plant Science Horizons (PSH) supports the Crossref Crossmark service to help readers verify the current status of published scholarly content and identify significant post-publication updates such as corrections, expressions of concern, withdrawals, removals and retractions.

Helping readers identify the current scholarly record

Research articles may require correction or other post-publication action after they have been published and downloaded. Crossmark provides a standardized mechanism through which readers can check whether a publication remains current or has received a significant update.

The presence of a Crossmark button indicates that the publisher has committed to maintaining the status information associated with that item.

Persistent Crossmark policy record

PSH maintains this Crossmark update policy as a DOI-identified policy page so that Crossmark-enabled article metadata can point readers to a persistent explanation of the journal's post-publication update practices.

Crossmark should be applied consistently

Crossmark is intended to be applied to the journal's current Crossref-registered scholarly content rather than only to articles that later receive corrections. This allows readers who download an article before any future update to check its status later.

Crossmark may be displayed on article landing pages and in PDF files where the journal's technical workflow supports it.

Current status, not a quality badge

A Crossmark button helps identify whether an item is current or has registered post-publication updates. It should not be interpreted as an independent certification of scientific quality, ethical approval, indexing status, impact, or endorsement by Crossref.

Scientific responsibility remains with the authors, editors, reviewers and publisher according to the journal's editorial policies.

Updates that may affect interpretation or credit

PSH registers editorially significant updates when they materially affect the interpretation, reliability, citation, authorship, or scholarly status of a publication.

Such updates are distinguished from minor typographical or formatting corrections that do not materially affect meaning or bibliographic metadata.

Official Crossmark update categories

Crossref currently recognizes the following update types for significant post-publication changes:

Article types are separate from Crossmark update types

Crossmark update categories should not be confused with PSH publication sections. The journal's current scholarly formats include:

Formal correction of the scholarly record

When a material error is identified after publication but the article remains reliable, PSH may publish a correction notice. The notice should identify the affected article, describe the corrected information clearly, and be linked to the original publication.

Where Crossmark is in use, the update relationship should be registered so readers can discover the correction through the Crossmark record.

Alerting readers while serious concerns remain unresolved

PSH may issue an Expression of Concern when credible concerns could materially affect confidence in an article but the available evidence is not yet sufficient for a final correction or retraction decision. The notice should be linked to the article and updated when the matter is resolved.

When a publication should no longer be relied upon

When the central findings of a publication are unreliable or another serious problem requires retraction, PSH should publish a clear retraction notice, maintain bibliographic transparency, and register the retraction relationship in Crossref metadata.

The original article should normally remain identifiable and clearly marked as retracted rather than being silently deleted.

Different actions for different circumstances

Withdrawal generally concerns content before final publication or a Crossref-recorded withdrawal relationship where applicable. Removal is a much rarer post-publication action and should be reserved for exceptional legal, privacy, safety, or comparable circumstances.

Where possible, the bibliographic record should remain visible so readers can understand why content is unavailable or no longer current.

Significant notices should normally be separate scholarly records

For editorially significant changes, the preferred model is to publish a separate correction, retraction, expression-of-concern, or other notice with its own DOI and metadata, then register the relationship between that notice and the affected article.

This preserves a transparent publication history and avoids obscuring what changed.

Avoid silent substantive replacement of published content

PSH should not silently replace a published article when the change is scientifically significant. Minor spelling, formatting, or non-substantive production corrections may be made without a formal update notice when they do not affect interpretation or metadata.

Material changes should normally be documented through a visible update notice and appropriate Crossref metadata.

Publication record information may be displayed

Crossmark can also expose useful publication-record metadata supplied by the publisher. Depending on PSH's Crossref deposit workflow, this may include:

Crossmark is only useful when records stay current

PSH is responsible for keeping Crossmark-related metadata accurate and updating Crossref records promptly when a major post-publication event occurs.

DOI, article title, author, license, update relationships and status metadata should be maintained consistently across the journal website, publication files and Crossref deposits.

Visible placement on article pages and publication files

The Crossmark button should be displayed prominently enough for readers to locate it easily, preferably near the article title or other core bibliographic information.

When Crossmark is embedded in PDFs, readers can check status even after downloading the publication and returning to it later.

How to use Crossmark

When a Crossmark button appears on a PSH article, select it to check whether the item is current and whether Crossref has recorded significant post-publication updates associated with that DOI.

Readers citing older downloaded copies are encouraged to verify the Crossmark status before relying on or citing the work.

Policies supporting the Crossmark record

Crossmark status information should be interpreted together with PSH's broader editorial and publication policies.

Official Crossmark documentation

PSH Crossmark commitments

A transparent record of post-publication change

Plant Science Horizons uses Crossmark to support transparent stewardship of its scholarly record. Significant corrections, expressions of concern, retractions and other material updates should remain visible, linked to the affected publication and reflected accurately in Crossref metadata so readers can identify the current status of PSH content.