This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier policy on Article Correction, Retraction and Removal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/article-withdrawal).
Retraction and republication–Effectiveness of strategies for implementing guideline-concordant care in low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
The Editors of eClinicalMedicine
On November 12th, 2024, eClinicalMedicine published online a paper1 entitled “Effectiveness of strategies for implementing guideline-concordant care in low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials”, and the Article was included into the December, 2024 issue of the journal.
Shortly after that, the authors contacted the Editor-in-Chief to inform them that data have been entered into the analysis software incorrectly or misinterpreted. On January 7th, 2025, the editors published an Expression of concern2 alerting the readers of this issue while the authors were reanalyzing the data. In view of the extent of changes necessary, we determined that the previous version of the Article should be retracted and a corrected version republished after re-analysis and re-review, in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines.
Today we retract the previous version and republish the corrected version of the Article3 and appendix, in which the conclusion have changed slightly—from “suggesting that implementation strategies discouraged routine imaging use but did not improve the provision of patient education/advice or reduce analgesic use” to “suggesting that implementation strategies probably reduce analgesic use but may not discourage routine imaging use or improve the provision of patient education/advice”. This retraction resolves the previously published Expression of Concern.
The overall messages of the paper are similar. The updated version of the Article includes an appendix file annotating all changes made to the paper.
References
- 1.Zhao S., Langford A.V., Chen Q., et al. Effectiveness of strategies for implementing guideline-concordant care in low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. eClinicalMedicine. 2024;78 [Google Scholar]
- 2.The Editors For eClinicalMedicine Expression of concern—Effectiveness of strategies for implementing guideline-concordant care in low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. eClinicalMedicine. 2025;80:103064. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.103064. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Zhao S, Langford AV, Chen Q, et al. Effectiveness of strategies for implementing guideline-concordant care in low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. eClinicalMedicine. 2025;90:103639.