In our new “how can we help you?” thread, a reader asks:

Happily, someone cited my paper. Unhappily, they attributed to me a view which is the diametrical opposite of what I (and a very well-known, major international figure in philosophy of science on whose view I was elaborating) claimed. They made claims in the form of “Contra Scholars X and Y, I argue z.” Nothing in their argument rides on it, but I defended the very kind of framework they were advocating while they positioned themselves as doing the contrary. Their paper is in a top philosophy of science journal. What should I do?

I suppose it might be possible to write the editors requesting a correction (erratum). But I’ve never encountered this kind of situation, so I don’t know! Sadly, I suspect it’s likely to become more common in the age of AI, as (or so it seems) more and more researchers offload things like literature reviews to bots. So, it may be increasingly important to be on the lookout for this stuff and correct it.

What do readers think? Any helpful insights or experiences to share?

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8 responses to “When someone cites but (woefully) misrepresents your work?”

  1. Anonymous

    I would contact the editor and maybe the author, too.

  2. Anonymous

    Some journals still publish “Notes.” If the misrepresentation is important enough, you could do a short write up, explain your view, explain the error, and why it all is important as a Note. Or do the same as a short article for journals with lower / no minimum word count.

  3. Michel

    I think all you can do, really, is write a reply paper.

  4. Anonymous

    I doubt a journal would publish an erratum. You could publish a reply piece, but if your article is merely mentioned, then I doubt the journal would be interested. You can certainly contact the author. But I would alert them in a matter of fact way, rather than in a confrontational way. Have you ever met the author before? If you know something about their personality, that might provide insight into how they will likely respond. In the end, if you do contact the author, the net result will probably be that they never look at any of your work again (and thus never cite it again). But I doubt that your reputation will be harmed. Davd Hull once said to me, “the only thing worse than being cited incorrectly is not being cited”

  5. Anonymous

    *worriedly awaiting an email*

    1. Anonymous

      This is funny, because it’s true. this situation arises often, unfortunately. It may not worth the effort.

  6. Anonymous

    I’ve seen this happen sometimes. You can – if you want, send an email (a polite one!) to the person who misrepresented your view, that way, at least, they might not do so in subsequent articles…

  7. Anonymous

    Turn it into a vendetta. Spend the rest of your career only critiquing (and badly misrepresenting!) their work!

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