ARTICLE RETRACTION POLICY
The Editorial Board reserves the right to retract a published article if serious violations of publication ethics or major unintentional errors are identified. Retraction can be initiated by the authors, editors, or readers, following a thorough internal investigation. A retraction due to ethics violations will also entail a future ban on submitting manuscripts to this journal for all co-authors involved in the incident.
If the editors decide to retract a text based on their investigation or external feedback, it is mandatory to inform the authors. The corresponding author must be familiarized with the specific wording justifying the retraction.
Once a retraction decision is made, the Editorial Board specifies the reasons (including sources of borrowing in case of plagiarism) and the retraction date. The article and its metadata remain on the journal's website as part of the respective issue, but the PDF file and the table of contents are permanently labeled or watermarked as “RETRACTED”. Simple mechanical deletion of an article from the digital archive is incorrect; the texts must remain accessible with the appropriate restrictive mark.
Grounds for article retraction include:
Clear evidence of plagiarism in any form (including unauthorized borrowing of text, figures, tables, or diagrams), whether detected before or after publication;
Redundant publication (if the manuscript or its substantial parts have already been published elsewhere);
Evidence of data fabrication, falsification, or honest major errors that compromise the scientific integrity and value of the research;
Unreliable or incorrect authorship (inclusion of guest authors or omission of deserving contributors);
Undisclosed conflicts of interest or other severe breaches of international publication ethics.
In such circumstances, the Editorial Board initiates a formal review. A retraction notice signed by the Editor-in-Chief is issued, and its copy is forwarded to the authors. The physical text is not removed from the online issue file, but an official public notification is posted on the content page of the official website.
Resolution of Conflicts and Final Decisions
Final decisions in controversial situations are made by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board, guided by peer reviewers' recommendations. Manuscripts rejected for publication will not be reconsidered. Authors receive a reasoned refusal notice from the Editorial Office.