Instructions for Withdrawing or Correcting Articles

The editorial board follows the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in matters of retraction and correction. A retraction is a mechanism for correcting the published record and alerting readers to serious deficiencies in a published work; it is distinct from a routine correction of minor errors.

Editorial Responsibilities

Members of the editorial board are responsible for safeguarding the integrity of the published record, including identifying plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Grounds for Retraction

• —Unreliable or falsified data.
• —Discovery that the manuscript had already been published elsewhere prior to submission.
• —Plagiarism, including the unattributed use of visual material.
• —Serious errors that materially mislead the research community.
• —A substantiated third-party claim regarding copyright.
• —Content found to violate the journal's ethical standards.

Procedure

The editorial board prepares a retraction notice, signed by the editor-in-chief, and notifies the author(s). The article is marked "Retracted" on the journal's website, together with a statement of the reasons for retraction.