On August 26, 2026 the PLOS One Editors published an Expression of Concern regarding the article titled “Male long-distance migrant turned sedentary; The West European pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) alters their migration and hibernation behaviour.” The notice appears as an editorial statement on the PLOS One website (DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0356982) and identifies the affected research paper as part of a series of submissions that raised concerns for the journal.
The purpose of the notice is to inform readers that there are unresolved concerns about the reliability of the peer review process associated with the publication. The Expression of Concern serves as an advisory flag while any related editorial follow-up, review, or investigation proceeds.
The editors state that the article was identified among a group of submissions with concerns about the integrity and/or reliability of the peer review process. The notice does not provide technical details about the specific nature of the peer review concerns, nor does it report evidence or findings about the study’s data, analyses, or conclusions.
Because the concern is stated specifically in relation to the peer review process, the journal’s statement focuses on procedural integrity rather than directly asserting problems with the scientific content of the article.
Readers are explicitly advised to interpret the original research article with consideration of the identified peer review issue. The Expression of Concern therefore functions as a cautionary statement: while the article remains accessible, users of the research should take into account the editorial advisory about peer review reliability when evaluating the paper’s findings or citing the work.
In following up on this matter, the PLOS editors state that the journal did not evaluate the article’s integrity or scientific validity. The notice does not report that such an evaluation was performed, nor does it present outcomes of any investigation into the content, methods, or results of the original study.
Because the notice reports only that the article was identified as part of submissions of concern and that PLOS did not evaluate the article’s scientific validity in the follow-up, no conclusions about the underlying science are supplied in the Expression of Concern.
The editors explicitly state they do not have concerns regarding the authors’ conduct during the peer review process. That declaration separates the procedural concerns about peer review integrity from any allegation of author misconduct in the handling of peer review. No further commentary about the authors or their actions is included in the notice.
The Expression of Concern cites the original research article as:
Haarsma A-J, Lina PHC, Voûte AM, Siepel H. Male long-distance migrant turned sedentary; The West European pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) alters their migration and hibernation behaviour. PLoS One. 2019;14(10):e0217810. pmid:31658268.
The notice provides links and access information for the original article, including DOI and PubMed/NCBI links. The Expression of Concern itself is published under a Creative Commons Attribution License and is intended to be openly available to inform the community.
This editorial notice alerts the research and conservation communities, readers, and potential users of the 2019 study to a procedural concern affecting the publication record. Because the Expression of Concern does not include an evaluation of the study’s scientific validity, anyone relying on the data, interpretations, or conclusions from the 2019 article should account for the advisory and consider corroborating evidence or independent assessment before drawing firm conclusions.
No further outcomes, corrections, retraction, or updates were reported within the text of the Expression of Concern itself. For the full context and any subsequent updates, readers should consult the PLOS One article page and the linked original research article.
Citation for the Expression of Concern as provided in the notice:
The PLOS One Editors (2026) Expression of Concern: Male long-distance migrant turned sedentary; The West European pond bat (Myotis dasycneme) alters their migration and hibernation behaviour. PLoS One 21(8): e0356982. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356982
This rewritten summary and editorial-style notice are based solely on the content of the PLOS One Expression of Concern page. The notice itself did not report details of any investigation, specific irregularities, or results of validation of the underlying research; those details were not reported in the source.