As a publisher, we are exclusively committed to the principles of scientific publishing and the freedom of science. Therefore, we have currently retracted 31 articles from 5 of our pediatric journals and removed them from the website. Internal investigations have shown that in these cases our guidelines for scientific publications were not properly followed. We deeply regret this incident and will therefore take appropriate actions to prevent any situation like these happening again if possible.
Strict adherence to the peer review process and the transparent handling of conflicts of interest are essential prerequisites for reliable scientific publications. Only on the basis of scientific facts can a well-founded discourse in the interests of scientific progress be ensured. Careful investigations have shown us that the articles that have now been retracted did not meet these standards and should never have been published. We deeply regret that our editorial control mechanisms did not function as usual in these cases. We therefore apologize to all those who feel damaged by this.
We are, therefore, examining the peer review process used in this case carefully and will make any necessary changes. In this way, we want to prevent such a situation from happening again and ensure that we can act immediately in future cases. In any case, all scientists can rest assured that in Thieme they have a publishing partner that is absolutely committed to the standards of scientific publishing.
January 2024