An article has recently been published with maps and text referring to a geographical area that includes regions not recognised by the United Nations as part of the stated country. This has been questioned by readers, who threaten further action as the journal has not followed UN recommendations about the designation of disputed territories. The subject of the journal is related to neither politics nor international relations.
A new Editor started in the position a month ago and had not handled (or in fact read) the article in question before being contacted by the readers. Initially the editorial team responded that they would give the authors the opportunity to change the text. Since then, however, the editorial team have come to believe that the journal should take a neutral stance and that it would not be fair to ask authors to change the published article. The Publisher’s default position is not to change what authors submit, and they indicated that the editorial team can determine if it is appropriate to offer the author the option to publish a correction, but it is ultimately the authors’ choice.
The information in the front of each journal issue states that the content reflects the research and opinions of the authors, not of the editorial team, journal, or society. However, at the moment this information is not present as a disclaimer on the article webpage or in the author guidelines.
More: https://publicationethics.org/case/geopolitical-boundaries-questioned-published-article
