Once reviewers’ comments have been addressed and approved, manuscripts are deemed to meet the required quality standards for publication. Only in exceptional cases will the journal issue errata, corrections, retractions, or, in the most serious cases, removals, considering the type, severity, and consequences of the issue. Actions are taken by consensus of the editorial team and in line with COPE recommendations.

Errata

An erratum is issued when the journal makes layout or editorial errors that affect the publication record or the reputation of the authors or the journal, while preserving the article’s academic integrity.

• The article will be corrected.
• A note will be added at the end of the article with the erratum reference (page–paragraph–line).
• A separate erratum notice will be published, linked to the corrected version.
• The erratum document will be paginated and assigned a DOI.

Corrections

A correction notice is issued when author-originated errors affect the publication record or the reputation of the authors or the journal, while preserving the article’s academic integrity.

• The article will be corrected.
• A note will be added at the end of the article with the correction reference.
• A separate correction notice will be published, linked to the corrected version.
• The correction document will be paginated and assigned a DOI.

Retractions

Retraction applies when errors invalidate conclusions; when research or publication misconduct occurs; when authorship is fraudulent; in cases of plagiarism; or when there is evidence of unreliability due to data manipulation or calculation errors. Authors may request retraction if supported by evidence.

A retraction entails:

• Watermarking the published PDF as “retracted article”.
• Prepending to the title: “Retracted article – [article title]”.
• Linking a separate retraction statement signed by the editor.
• Paginating the retraction statement and assigning a DOI.

Removal

Removal is unlikely after peer review but may occur under exceptionally severe circumstances that cannot be addressed through an erratum, correction, or retraction. In such cases, the metadata (authors and title) will be retained, and the text will be replaced with a document indicating that the article has been removed for legal reasons.

Removal will occur when:

• The article infringes legal rights.
• The article is subject to a court order.
• The article poses a serious risk to health.
• Editorial policies have not been observed.