Stealth corrections

Introduction

TipDefinition

A stealth correction is a post-publication change made to a scientific article, without providing a correction note or any other indicator that the publication was temporarily or permanently altered (McIntosh et al. 2026).

Example of stealth correction documented by Elisabeth Bik on PubPeer: Figure 5a and a portion of the caption for Figure 5 were removed post publication without notice.

Key resources

Note“The Existence of Stealth Corrections in Scientific Literature”

Explanation of the issue by Aquarius et al. (2025).

Note“Stealth corrections are still a threat to scientific integrity”

Elaboration by Aquarius et al. (2026).

NoteCOSIG

• Stealth corrections: https://osf.io/2kdez/files/34nj5.

More information on COSIG: Ozturk et al. (2026).

Bibliography

Aquarius, René, Floris Schoeters, Alex Glynn, and Guillaume Cabanac. 2026. “Guest Post: Stealth Corrections Are Still a Threat to Scientific Integrity.” BishopBlog, February 20. https://deevybee.blogspot.com/2026/02/guest-post-stealth-corrections-are.html.

Aquarius, René, Floris Schoeters, Nick Wise, Alex Glynn, and Guillaume Cabanac. 2025. “The Existence of Stealth Corrections in Scientific Literature—A Threat to Scientific Integrity.” Learned Publishing 38 (2): e1660. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1660.

McIntosh, Leslie D., Anna Abalkina, Achal Agrawal, et al. 2026. “Forensic Scientometrics (FoSci) Report 2026: Understanding, Detecting, and Documenting Manipulation in the Research Ecosystem.” Version 3. Preprint, Figshare, July 17. 1012969 Bytes. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.32178456.v3.

Ozturk, Yagmur, Solal Pirelli, and Reese A. K. Richardson. 2026. “Introducing COSIG: The Collection of Open Science Integrity Guides.” PLOS Biology 24 (6): e3003817. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003817.