Withdrawal & Retraction Policy

Authors may withdraw a manuscript freely before peer review begins; after publication, an article is never removed but may be retracted, with a retraction notice that stays linked to it.

Withdrawal before publication

•           Before peer review starts: authors may withdraw at no cost by sending a written request, signed by all authors, to the editor.

•           During review or after acceptance: withdrawal is allowed only for strong reasons (e.g. a serious error found by the authors), with a written explanation signed by all authors. Withdrawing in order to submit to another journal while under review at IJoSPaT is treated as misconduct.

•           The manuscript is not considered withdrawn until the authors receive the editor’s written confirmation. Authors may not submit the paper elsewhere before then.

Retraction after publication follows the COPE Retraction Guidelines. An article is retracted when there is clear evidence that:

•           its findings are unreliable because of major error or data fabrication or falsification;

•           it plagiarises other work or has been published elsewhere before (duplicate publication);

•           it contains material used without authorisation, or it reports unethical research;

•           its peer review or authorship was manipulated.

How retraction is done

1.        A retraction notice titled “Retraction: [article title]” is published in the next issue and linked from the original article.

2.        The original article stays online with a “RETRACTED” watermark on every page. Its metadata are updated in Crossref.

3.        The notice states who is retracting the article and why.

4.        In exceptional cases (e.g. legal infringement or a risk to health), the article text may be removed, leaving only the metadata and the retraction notice.

Expression of concern.
When an investigation is ongoing or the evidence is inconclusive, the editor may publish an expression of concern instead of, or before, a retraction.