Procedure for Retracting Published Articles

The retraction policy is implemented by the editorial board to inform readers about cases of self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or undisclosed conflicts of interest that may have influenced the interpretation of data or recommendations concerning their use. Retraction of a scholarly article is a mechanism for correcting the published record and notifying readers that a publication contains serious flaws, unreliable findings, erroneous data, or other substantial deficiencies that undermine trust in the published material.

The publication of unreliable data may result either from an unintentional error or from deliberate academic or publication misconduct.

The purpose of retraction is to ensure transparency, preserve the integrity of the scholarly record, and inform readers that the findings, data, or conclusions presented in the publication should not be relied upon.

In accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the editorial board of the journal applies the following policy on the retraction of already published articles.

Grounds for retracting an article include:

plagiarism or unauthorized use of materials;

duplicate publication of the article in more than one journal or publication venue;

fabrication or falsification of research data;

serious errors in the article, including incorrect interpretation of results, which call into question the scholarly value or reliability of the publication;

incorrect authorship, including the inclusion of individuals who do not meet authorship criteria or the omission of individuals who made a substantial contribution and deserve authorship;

undisclosed conflict of interest or other violations of publication ethics;

republication of the article without the author’s consent;

other violations of the ethical principles of scholarly publishing.

The retraction process may be initiated on the basis of:

a request from the author to retract the article;

a request from third parties, including possible parties to a conflict of interest, accompanied by evidence of violations of publication ethics by the author of the article published in the journal;

the identification by the journal’s editorial board of facts indicating violations of publication ethics by the authors of the article.