• Owing to an error during the editing of an article about the academic publisher Elsevier (Scientists walk away from academic journal that ‘just got too greedy’, 7 May, p20), quote marks were added to a remark attributed to Stephen Smith, professor of biomedical engineering at Oxford University, when in fact his words had been paraphrased.
Smith had said researchers “often put up with the way things are because they want to publish in established journals with known reputations and high ‘impact factors’”, not because being published in such journals would “help their careers and ensure their work is widely read and cited”. Also, Elsevier claims to publish 18% of the world’s scientific papers, not 25% as the article stated.
• An article misspelt the actor Nora Tschirner’s surname as “Tshirner” (#IchAuch: film world in shock as Germany’s MeToo moment arrives, 7 May, p29).
• Doris Lessing left two of her children in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), not in South Africa as an article said, when she moved to London in the 1940s (What’s your cancellation policy?, 7 May, New Review, p36).
• A review of the Ukrainian crime thriller Pamfir said that the eponymous reformed smuggler decided to do one last smuggling run across the border to Poland. This should have said “to Romania” (And the rest, 7 May, New Review, p23).
• Other recently amended articles include:
Revealed: Labour won back swathes of Brexit voters in the local elections
What a development: a century of photo wallets – in pictures
‘He epitomised the dazzling 60s and then was gone’: the inside story of Rolling Stone Brian Jones
Vive la révolution! But is France ready to establish a Sixth Republic?
• Write to the Readers’ Editor, the Observer, York Way, London N1 9GU, email observer.readers@observer.co.uk, tel 020 3353 4736
