Correction and Retraction

CORRECTION, EXPRESSION OF CONCERN, AND RETRACTION POLICY

This Journals are committed to maintaining an accurate and trustworthy scholarly record. When errors or integrity concerns arise after publication, the managing body will assess the evidence and take appropriate, proportionate action. Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions serve to inform readers and protect the integrity of the literature. These actions are not intended as punishment, and retraction does not necessarily imply deliberate misconduct.

Reporting an Error or Concern

Authors must notify the editorial office promptly when they discover a significant error or integrity concern in their published work. Readers, reviewers, and other parties may also report concerns.

Reports submitted through official channels should include:

The article title, author names, and DOI or article URL.
A clear description of the error or concern.
The affected passages, figures, tables, references, or other content.
Supporting evidence and, where possible, the proposed correction.
Any relevant competing interests of the person reporting the concern.

Anonymous reports will be assessed when they contain sufficiently specific and credible information. There is no fixed expiry date for reporting a substantive problem with a published article.

Corrections

A correction is appropriate when an error affects the accuracy, clarity, attribution, or interpretation of part of an article, but the principal findings and overall conclusions remain reliable. Errors introduced by either authors or the managing body may be corrected.

Examples requiring Correction include:

Incorrect numerical values, labels, quotations, or references that do not invalidate main conclusions.
Errors in tables or figures that can be corrected without undermining the study.
Omitted or inaccurate funding or conflict-of-interest declarations.
Incorrect author details or justified changes to attribution following appropriate assessment.
Production errors that materially affect published content.

A correction notice will explain the error and provide corrected information. Minor typographical errors that do not affect meaning may be corrected silently.

Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when significant questions about an article's reliability or ethical integrity remain unresolved and readers need to be alerted.

This may be appropriate when:

Available evidence raises substantial concerns but is not yet sufficient for a definitive conclusion.
An institutional or editorial inquiry is ongoing and a timely resolution is unlikely.
A relevant investigation cannot be completed or its fairness is uncertain.

An expression of concern is not a finding of misconduct. An update will be published once sufficient information becomes available.

Retractions

Retraction is appropriate when sufficiently established problems make the article unreliable or fundamentally compromise its publication integrity, and a correction would not adequately address the problem.

Grounds for retraction include:

Unreliable findings resulting from fabrication, falsification, or a substantial honest error.
Substantial plagiarism or misappropriation of research content.
Redundant publication without appropriate disclosure or permission.
Serious ethical breaches affecting the research or its publication.
A compromised or manipulated peer-review process.
A major undisclosed competing interest that materially affects interpretation.

Honest error may justify retraction even when no misconduct is established. The final decision rests with independent editorial assessment.

Assessment and Decision-Making

An editor without a relevant conflict of interest will examine the concern and supporting evidence, providing authors an opportunity to respond. Decisions will focus on protecting the scholarly record.

Notices and Preservation of the Record

Notices will be publicly accessible, clearly labeled, dated, and linked to the affected article. Retraction preserves the article as part of the scholarly record with transparent watermarking/marking ('RETRACTED') rather than complete removal.