Take the following as truth: As a nonexpert, although interested, subscriber to VERBATIM, it is  a bit mysterious  to me that the singular noun absence takes the plural verb are .  I refer to the first sentence of your article about the Longman Dictionary [XV,1].
Then the following statement: "The author is concerned about the verb use in VERBATIM magazine." is true, false, or inconclusive?
Answer: True