Fixing insignificant errors of an article after publication, only in the preprint version Consider that a paper is published in a journal. It contains some insignificant errors which are not worth asking for an erratum. I was wondering in such a case would it be acceptable to fix those errors in the preprint version (for example on arXiv.org)? Since in this case it will be sort of a “post-print” version of the paper and technically an improvement on the paper, would it create a problem with the journal in a typical situation?
Edit: Let’s assume that the editor agrees that the errors are too minor for an erratum. What I want to know is if there will be any legal issues and more importantly: if it is a good idea scientifically?
There is nothing wrong with updating a paper on the arxiv after it has been accepted or published, from a legal point of view. The paper on the arxiv is not necessarily identical to the published one. (In fact, it is rather the opposite: Changes introduced during the copyediting process are usually something which you are not supposed to include in the journal version.)
Whether this is a smart thing is a different question. As has been pointed out, people might get confused if the published version and the arxiv version differ, especially if they differ in terms of content: If someone cites the arxiv version, it might be that the same result is not contained in the published version, yet the reference might be at some point changed to the published paper. However, this is something which can (at least partly) be remedied by putting a suitable comment on the arxiv.
(Note that there are plenty of papers where the arxiv version differs from the published version, mostly because the authors did not bother updating it. Not that this is recommended, but it is common, so people often are aware that those versions differ.)