Erratum to ‘Fistula Experience in Niger: How We Overcame an Ethical Dilemma’ (Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine (2009) 76(1) (71–74)(10.1002/msj.20047))

In 2009, the Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, the predecessor journal to the Annals of Global Health published an article by Olivera, Gligorov and Ascher-Walsh titled “Fistula Experience in Niger: How We Overcame an Ethical Dilemma” (vol 76, pp. 71-74). It has subsequently come to the journal's attention that this article contains three quotations taken without attribution from previously published papers. The first of these quotes was taken from the following report: Hamlin RHJ, Nicholson EC. Experiences in the treatment of 600 vaginal fistulas and in the management of 80 labours which have followed the repair of these injuries. Ethiopian Medical Journal 1966; 9(3): 189-192. The latter two quotations came from a paper published by Dr. L. Lewis Wall of Washington University in St. Louis: Wall LL. Fitsari Dan Duniya: An African (Hausa) praise-song about vesico-vaginal fistulas. Obstetrics and Gynecology 2002; 100: 1328-1332. This matter has been reviewed by the Research Integrity Committee of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The Committee has determined that although the authors erred by not following established editorial rules for acknowledging prior work, no plagiarism was committed because Olivera et al. clearly differentiated the paragraphs in question by “offset indentations” and they did not attempt to pass them off as their own work. The journal publishes this Erratum Notice to indicate clearly and publicly that the three quotes in the article by Olivera et al. were taken from Dr. Hamlin's and Dr. Wall's papers.