Two philosophical articles by Max Planck from 1940 and 1942 were erroneously marked as retracted on Springer's digital platform. Modern publishing algorithms misidentified the historical practice of multi-channel publication (e.g., lectures, pamphlets, journal reprints) as copyright violations or duplicate submissions, causing the original texts to disappear. The incident reveals governance risks in digital archiving systems when confronted with pre-digital academic practices.
Incident Overview
Two philosophical articles published by Max Planck, the father of quantum physics, in 1940 and 1942 were recently and erroneously flagged as "retracted" on Springer's digital platform. Investigation confirmed that the articles are legitimate historical academic works, but modern publishing algorithms misjudged the common pre-digital practice of multi-channel dissemination (e.g., initial delivery as a lecture, later reprinted as a pamphlet or journal article) as copyright violations or duplicate submissions, leading to the removal of the original content. This incident underscores the risks of digital archival systems misinterpreting historical academic norms and the governance challenges inherent in such automated processes.
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