Editor's Note
It has come to the attention of the Editorial Office that there was a substantial amount of redundancy and duplication in an article published in The Journal in 20051 and an article published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 20012. The two articles had a common author, F.A. Matsen III, MD. This concern was brought to the attention of Dr. Matsen, and his response is provided.
—J.D.H.
F.A. Matsen replies:
I am writing with regard to similarities in two articles: "Open Rotator Cuff Repair without Acromioplasty" (2005;87:1278-83), by McCallister et al., and "Improvement in Comfort and Function After Cuff Repair without Acromioplasty," by Goldberg et al., published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 2001.
First, the authors of the paper published in 2005 in JBJS failed to indicate that this was an update of a previous publication from our group in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in 2001. Second, we did not cite the article in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research in the references of the paper published in JBJS. Also, we used much of the same wording in the two papers. For these errors, we apologize to JBJS and its readership.
The more recent paper, however, does contain important information, presented below, that was not contained in the first article:Men and women had significantly different degrees of function preoperatively (6.3 and 2.3, respectively, p < 0.00000001) and postoperatively (10.6 and 7.0, respectively, p < 0.001).The patients with only one torn tendon had the greatest improvement in the number of shoulder functions that they could perform (from 5.2 to 10.1), those with two torn tendons had the next greatest improvement (from 4.8 to 8.4), and those with three torn tendons had the least improvement (from 5.6 to 8.8).The comparison of the rationale and technique that we use with those described by Codman over seventy years ago3.The findings in over twice as many shoulders.
Men and women had significantly different degrees of function preoperatively (6.3 and 2.3, respectively, p < 0.00000001) and postoperatively (10.6 and 7.0, respectively, p < 0.001).
The patients with only one torn tendon had the greatest improvement in the number of shoulder functions that they could perform (from 5.2 to 10.1), those with two torn tendons had the next greatest improvement (from 4.8 to 8.4), and those with three torn tendons had the least improvement (from 5.6 to 8.8).
The comparison of the rationale and technique that we use with those described by Codman over seventy years ago3.
The findings in over twice as many shoulders.
We believe that this additional information will be of benefit to the orthopaedic community and that it justifies the publication of the more recent manuscript.