Withdrawal/Retraction Policy

Retractions

A retraction notice will be issued where a major error (e.g. in the analysis or methods) invalidates the conclusions in the article, or where research misconduct or publication misconduct has taken place (e.g. research without required ethical approvals, fabricated data, manipulated images, plagiarism, duplicate publication, etc.). The decision to issue a retraction for an article will be made in accordance with COPE guidelines and will involve an investigation by the editorial staff in collaboration with the editor. Authors and institutions may request a retraction of their articles if their reasons meet the criteria for retraction.

The COPE retraction guidelines can be found on the COPE website.

Retraction will be considered:

If there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication or image manipulation) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error).
If the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission, or justification (e.g. cases of redundant publication or duplicate publication).
If the research constitutes plagiarism.
Where there is evidence of fraudulent authorship.
Where there is evidence of compromised peer review.
If there is evidence of unethical research.

Where the decision has been taken to retract an article the Journal will:

Add a “retracted” watermark to the published version of the Record of the article.
Issue a separate retraction statement, titled ‘Retraction: [article title]’, that will be linked to the retracted article Online.
Paginate and make available the retraction statement in the online issue of the journal.

Every article published by the Journal, either in the print issue or online, constitutes the Version of Record (VoR): the final, definitive, and citable version of the scholarly record.

The VoR includes:

The paper is revised and accepted following peer review, in its final form, including the abstract, text, references, bibliography, and all accompanying tables, illustrations, and data.
Any supplemental material.

Recognizing a published article as a finalized Version of the Record establishes the expectation that it can be relied upon as accurate, complete, and citable. Wherever possible it is our policy to maintain the integrity of the Version of Record in accordance with STM Association guidelines:

“Articles that have been published should remain extant, exact, and unaltered to the maximum extent possible”

STM Guidelines on Preservation of the Objective Record of Science

Sometimes after an article has been published it may be necessary to make a change to the Version of Record. This will be done after careful consideration by the Editor who is also supported by Thethe Journal staff to ensure any necessary changes are made in accordance with guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Any necessary changes will be accompanied by a post-publication notice which will be permanently linked to the original article so that readers will be fully informed of any necessary changes. This can be in the form of a correction notice, an expression of concern, a retraction, and in rare circumstances a removal. The purpose of this mechanism of making changes that are permanent and transparent is to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.

All corrections, expressions of concern, and retraction notices are free to access at the point of publication.

What should I do if my article contains an error?

Authors should notify us as soon as possible if they find errors in their published article, especially errors that could affect the interpretation of data or the reliability of information presented. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure consensus has been reached between all listed co-authors prior to putting forward any requests for corrections or retractions to an article.

If, after reading the guidance, you believe a correction or retraction is necessary for your article, contact the journal’s Production Editor.

[email protected]
00970569831045

Expressions of concern

In some cases, an Expression of Concern notice may be considered where concerns of a major nature have been raised (e.g. serious research or publication misconduct), but where the outcome of the investigation is inconclusive or where due to various complexities the investigation will not be complete for a considerable time.

When the investigation has been completed a Retraction or Correction notice may follow the Expression of Concern, and alongside the original article, all will remain part of the permanent published record.

Publication of an expression of concern notice will be considered if:

There is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors, but the nature of the concerns warrants notifying the readers.
There are well-founded concerns that the findings are unreliable or that misconduct may have occurred, but there is limited cooperation from the authors’ institution(s) in investigating the concerns raised.
There is an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication that has not been or would not be, fair and impartial, or conclusive.
An investigation is underway, but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time and the nature of the concerns warrant notifying the readers.

The expression of concern will be linked back to the published article it relates to.

Article removal

An article removal will be issued in rare circumstances where the problems are very serious in nature and cannot be addressed by a Retraction or Correction notice. The Journal will consider the removal of a published article from the Journal in very limited circumstances such as:

If the article contains content that could pose a serious risk if followed or acted upon.
If the article contains content that violates the rights to privacy of a study participant.
If the article is defamatory or infringes other legal rights.
If an article is subject to a court order.

In case of an article being removed from the Journal Online, a removal notice will be issued in its place.

Updates and scholarly discussion on published articles

Addenda

An addendum is a notification of an addition of information to an article. Addenda do not contradict the original publication and are not used to fix errors (for which a Correction notice will be published), but if the author needs to update or add some key information then, this can be published as an addendum. Addenda may be peer-reviewed, according to journal policy, and are normally subject to oversight by the editors of the journal.

All addenda are electronically linked to the published article to which they relate.

Comment (including response and rejoinder correspondence)

Comments are short articles that outline an observation on a published article. In cases where a comment on a published article is submitted to the journal editor, it may be subject to peer review. The comment will be shared with the authors of the published article, who are invited to submit a response.

This author's response again may be subject to peer review and will be shared with the commentator, who may be invited to submit a rejoinder. The rejoinder may be subject to peer review and shared with the authors of the published article. No further correspondence will be considered for publication. The editor may decide to reject correspondence at any point before the comment, response, and rejoinder are finalized.