Article retraction and Expression of Concern

Article retraction is an official procedure for amending scientific publications in cases where significant errors, violations of academic integrity, or unreliable results are identified. The purpose of retraction is to preserve scientific integrity and trust in the journal.

Grounds for Retracting an Article

An article may be retracted in the event of:

  • plagiarism or self-plagiarism;
  • duplication of the publication in another journal without proper permission;
  • falsification or fabrication of data;
  • significant logical or methodological errors that invalidate the conclusions;
  • incorrect authorship that does not correspond to each author’s contribution;
  • violation of the peer review process;
  • other serious violations of ethical or publication standards. 

Initiating a retraction

A retraction may be initiated by:

  • the authors of the article (via a written request and justification);
  • the journal’s editorial board (based on its own review or third-party complaints);
  • third parties (readers, reviewers, academic institutions) if there is evidence of significant violations.

Review Procedure

  1. The editorial board receives the request and appoints a responsible person or a committee to investigate the circumstances.
  2. An analysis of the evidence is conducted, and the authors are consulted.
  3. Based on the results of the investigation, one of the following decisions is made:
    • retraction of the article;
    • correction (revision) of the article;
    • refusal to retract if the claims are unfounded.

Documentation of the decision

If a decision to retract is made:

  • the reason and date are noted in the meeting minutes;
  • the page of the article and the PDF version are marked “RETRACTED” with the date and a comment;
  • the editorial board notifies libraries, scientometric databases, and indexers where the article is registered. 

Preservation of the scholarly record

Even after retraction, the text of the article remains available in the archive with a clear indication of its status to ensure transparency and avoid misleading readers.

This procedure was developed taking into account: