Review of a scientific article from a journal

Revocation of a scientific article is a fairly common occurrence in publishing practice, which occurs for various reasons: from erroneously indicated information about the author of the article to the discovery of an error in calculations or plagiarism. In what cases can an article be retracted? What should the author do if he found an error in the calculations, and the article has already been published? We are talking about this in our today’s material.

An article may be retracted by the author of the work or by the editor, in some cases by the owners of the publication. But due to the fact that the editor is directly responsible for the journal, it is he who will make the final decision.

The main purpose of retracting a published article is to correct incorrect information and notify readers about the mistakes made in the publications.

Why can a publisher withdraw an article from print?

The decision to withdraw a published work is made by the editors of the journal in the following cases:

• Clear evidence that the published information is false, whether it is an honest misrepresentation or willful misconduct. The reason for considering retraction of an article in most cases is the reaction of readers.
• The presence of duplicate publications. It is easily detected by the editors when checking the manuscript with the Antiplagiarism program and the RSCI search engine, regardless of the time when this article was sent to different journals and published.
• The article contains plagiarism.
• Hide conflicts of interest that may affect the interpretation of data and their use. It can be caused by personal relationships, financial relationships, relationships in a research organization, competition in an academic environment.
• Invalid or unconfirmed information about the authors, without which it is impossible to correctly index the article in databases. These include incorrect spelling of the first and last name, academic degree, title, position and place of work.
• In case of confirmation of violations of ethics, the editors reserve the right not only to reject this publication, but also not to consider articles by this author in the future.

If these violations are found at the editing stage, the material is returned to the author for revision or rejected. This is especially true in cases where publication of the HAC is being considered.

If these violations are discovered after the publication of the journal, then the article should be urgently retracted. The recall process should be as expeditious as possible to prevent incorrect data from being replicated and used in ongoing research.

In this case, the editors send the author a notice of retraction of the article indicating the reasons and give an appropriate explanation to readers in the next issue of the journal and its electronic version on the publication’s website.

If the editors receive a statement about the change of authorship, then the issue is resolved by amending the article without retracting the article.

When can an author retract an article?

Author can apply for retraction of an article in one of the following cases:

• The article was published in another journal without notifying the author;
• the author did not consent to the publication of the article in co-authorship;
• It was found, not previously noticed, the coincidence of research results with other authors;
• errors were made in the study and the findings;
• The information about the author is incorrect (for example, place of work or position).

If the author decides to withdraw the article from the journal, then first of all he needs to send a formal request to the editor. The application must indicate the reason for the withdrawal of the article.

If the editorial board recognizes the author’s arguments as convincing, then an act of retraction of the article is drawn up, signed by the editor-in-chief. A copy of the act is sent to the author.

If the article is published, the editorial office publishes information about the retraction of the article and publishes it in the next issue of the journal and on its official website.

A retracted article is not removed from the printed edition and published file of this issue on the journal’s website, but it is clearly marked as retracted and identified as such in bibliographic databases. Links are saved, but already to an article marked as retracted.

If the article had to be retracted (it does not matter whether the author or the editor himself) – do not be upset, but you should carefully study the reasons for the retraction in order to prevent such errors in the future. You can also add that in addition to the considered reasons and the procedure for withdrawing an article, each publication can set its own rules, so even if the author is confident in the results of his research, before publishing a scientific article, it will not be superfluous to familiarize yourself with the rules and the procedure for withdrawing an article in a particular publication.

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