Article Withdrawal Policy

1. General Principles

The journal recognizes the importance of the scholarly record as a permanent and transparent archive of academic work. Therefore, published articles should remain available, citable, and linked to any subsequent notice or amendment whenever possible.

Decisions regarding correction, withdrawal, retraction, removal, or replacement are made by the Editor-in-Chief or designated editor, with reference to publication ethics standards, journal policy, and where appropriate, consultation with the editorial board or relevant institutions.

Such actions are taken only when necessary and must be supported by clear reasons, proper documentation, and transparent notice to readers.

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2. Author-Identified Errors

If authors discover a significant error in their article, whether before or after publication, they must promptly notify the journal editorial office and provide sufficient details to enable assessment of the issue.

The editorial team will evaluate the matter and determine the most appropriate course of action, which may include a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or, in exceptional cases, removal or replacement.

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3. Article Correction

A correction may be issued when an article contains an error or omission that does not invalidate the overall results and conclusions of the work.

Corrections may include, but are not limited to:

• errors in author names, affiliations, or contributor information;
• minor factual inaccuracies;
• metadata or publication errors;
• publisher-introduced errors;
• important clarifications that do not undermine the reliability of the article.

The correction notice will be linked clearly to the original article.

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4. Expression of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when the journal has reason to alert readers to serious potential problems in an article, but the available evidence is inconclusive or an investigation is still ongoing.

This may occur, for example, when there are unresolved concerns about the reliability, ethics, authorship, or integrity of the article, but a final decision cannot yet be made.

The Expression of Concern will be linked to the article and will remain part of the scholarly record unless replaced later by a correction, retraction, or other final notice.

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5. Article Withdrawal

Article withdrawal applies only to manuscripts or articles that have been accepted and posted online as early versions, in press, ahead-of-print, or other pre-final publication forms, but which have not yet been assigned as the final version of record in a completed issue.

An article may be withdrawn in rare circumstances, including:

• serious errors detected before final publication;
• accidental duplicate submission or duplicate posting;
• ethical concerns such as plagiarism, false authorship claims, or data misuse detected before final issue publication;
• major legal or policy concerns that prevent formal publication.

In such cases, the article content may be replaced with a withdrawal notice stating that the article has been withdrawn in accordance with the journal’s policy.

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6. Article Retraction

Retraction applies to published articles that are found to be seriously unreliable or in violation of publication ethics.

A retraction may be considered in cases such as:

• fabrication, falsification, or major error affecting the reliability of the findings;
• plagiarism or redundant publication;
• false authorship claims or major authorship misconduct;
• manipulated peer review or other publication misconduct;
• unethical research or unlawful use of data/materials.

When an article is retracted, the journal will publish a retraction notice that:

• clearly identifies the affected article;
• states the reason for retraction as transparently as possible;
• indicates who is retracting the article, where appropriate;
• is permanently linked to the original article.

The journal will preserve the article record as far as possible, while clearly marking the article as retracted, rather than simply deleting it.

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7. Article Removal

Article removal is an exceptional action and will be considered only in very limited circumstances, such as when the article is clearly defamatory, violates the legal rights of others, is subject to a court order, or poses a serious risk of harm if it remains accessible.

In such cases, the article may be removed from public access and replaced with a notice explaining that the article has been removed for legal or safety reasons, while preserving the available bibliographic record where possible.

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8. Article Replacement

In rare situations, a published article may be replaced with a corrected version when the original article contains a serious error and continued use of the original version could cause substantial harm or serious misunderstanding.

Any replacement will be accompanied by a clear notice and version history so that readers can understand the relationship between the original and replacement versions.

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