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While conducting an internal audit of publications between January and June 2012, BioMed Central discovered a number of apparent major irregularities in the content and editorial handling of the journal Head & Neck Oncology. In order to maintain the integrity of the BioMed Central portfolio of journals, we decided to cease publication of the journal with effect from 9th August 2012.

University College London (UCL) and University College London Hospital (UCLH) subsequently conducted a joint investigation of our concerns. This focused primarily on the actions of Editor-in-Chief Mr Colin Hopper, because neither of the other active Editors-in-Chief, Waseem Jerjes and Tahwinder Upile, were employees of UCL during the time covered by our audit, so an investigation of their actions would have been beyond the scope of UCL’s investigation.

Following their investigation UCL were satisfied that there was no evidence of research misconduct arising from any employee, honorary researcher or student in relation to the articles they were asked to investigate. They were also satisfied that there was no evidence of editorial or author misconduct on the part of Colin Hopper.

In the absence of definitive conclusions about all the concerns raised by its audit, BioMed Central has provided details of its findings on relevant articles which will be updated if further information becomes available. If you are an author of a published article in this journal and have further questions, please contact info@biomedcentral.com.