Approval and Error Correction Language for Website

Approval of data submissions is a formal statement that the data have been carefully reviewed and are correct, ready for public use and scrutiny. In terms of scholarship, therefore, approval is an act of scientific communication, similar to publication. It requires the same level of care and attention to detail. Users view the data and draw inferences about it, and develop impressions of the submitters and PharmGKB based on their experiences with this data. Thus, corrections to approved public data should be rare, well-documented, and made quickly upon discovering the need for changes.

Technically, posting data to PharmGKB means that unique identifiers are assigned, and PharmGKB makes a commitment to support these identifiers forever. Retractions or corrections initiate a complex set of database changes, with creation of an audit trail, and connections to updated submissions, if any. In particular, if there is a replacement submission, the old submission should be linked to the replacement so that users referring to an out of date submission can be redirected to the updated one.

The PharmGKB will alert authors of any concerns that are received, and authors will alert PharmGKB staff if they become aware of concerns or errors in their submissions.