Editor, Journal of Korean Medical Science

A reader of the Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS) raised concerns regarding the above entitled article violating conflict of interest disclosure (1). The article described the conflict of interest as "We certify that all authors of this manuscript have had no financial involvement (e.g. employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, and royalties) within the past five years, or will have in the foreseeable future, with any organization or entity with a financial interest in, or financial conflict with, the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript." The funding record of the article was "This study was supported by the regional innovation center program of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at the Skin Biotechnology Center of Kyung Hee University, Korea."

The corresponding author, Dr. Chan Yeong Heo, later reported that the study was a clinical trial of a new filler and the trial expense was supported by a pharmaceutical company which was producing the filler. One of the coauthors, Dr. Iksoo Kim, was a researcher in the R&D Center of the company, and his written affiliation was the company. The corresponding author reported that the coauthor performed the animal experiment but the research integrity was kept unimpaired without any influence by the company's funding and Dr. Kim's involvement.

The executive board for publication of the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences seriously discussed the matter on January 22, 2016. The board concluded that the article was an impaired publication of conflict of interest by wrong disclosure and incorrect notification of funding sponsor. The corresponding author of the article accepted the allegation of the publication board. The editor retracts the above article based on the decision of the board.