The Editorial Board of the journal is committed to ensuring openness, transparency, and timely response to all substantiated complaints or suggestions received from authors, reviewers, or readers. Each case is considered individually, taking into account its nature and complexity, and decisions are made in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
All suggestions and complaints should be sent to the official email address of the journal’s editorial office. Messages are reviewed within ten working days. A complaint must be clear, concise, and substantiated, providing sufficient data to demonstrate a potential breach of publication ethics or editorial policy. Whenever possible, the complainant should include additional documents or evidence supporting their claim.
Personal complaints regarding the actions of authors, reviewers, members of the editorial board, or other participants in the editorial process are considered only within the scope of the journal’s responsibility. In cases where a complaint falls outside the competence of the editorial office, the complainant will receive a reasoned explanation of the refusal to consider it. The journal reserves the right not to investigate complaints submitted in an inappropriate, offensive, threatening, or defamatory manner.
In cases where significant violations or data unreliability are identified, the editorial board may decide to retract a previously published article. The final decision on retraction is made by the Editor-in-Chief.
Grounds for Retraction
A publication may be retracted under the following circumstances:
- The presence of convincing evidence that the results are unreliable, whether caused by error, negligence, or intentional misconduct (e.g., data fabrication or image manipulation);
- Duplication of results previously published elsewhere without proper citation or authorization (redundant or duplicate publication);
- Evidence of false or fictitious authorship;
- Compromised peer review process;
- Research conducted in violation of ethical standards or professional codes of conduct.
Requests for retraction may also be submitted prior to the official publication of an article. In such cases, authors must send an official letter to the editorial office clearly explaining the reasons for withdrawal. The statement must be concise, explicit, and signed by all authors.
Upon receiving the withdrawal letter, the editorial office confirms the withdrawal, and the manuscript is removed from the publisher’s database. The copyright remains with the authors.
Following a retraction decision:
- The electronic version of the article will be watermarked with the label “Retracted”;
- The title of the publication will be changed to “Retracted: [Article Title]”;
- A separate retraction statement will be published, signed by the editorial board, indicating the reasons for retraction and including a DOI identifier.