Corrections and Retractions Policy

International Journal of Psychology and Strategic Communication (IJPSC)
Crossmark Policy DOI: https://doi.org/10.61030/ijpsc.crossmark

The International Journal of Psychology and Strategic Communication (IJPSC) is committed to maintaining the accuracy, integrity, transparency, and long-term reliability of the scholarly record.

This Corrections and Retractions Policy defines how IJPSC handles errors, post-publication updates, expressions of concern, retractions, withdrawals, removals, and other changes affecting published peer-reviewed scholarly articles.

IJPSC follows recognised principles of publication ethics and post-publication integrity, including relevant guidance issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1. Integrity of the Scholarly Record

The published version of an IJPSC article constitutes the journal’s version of record.

Once an article has been published, substantive changes are not made silently. Corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, or other material post-publication changes are documented transparently and linked to the original publication.

The purpose of post-publication action is to maintain the accuracy and reliability of the scholarly record, not to conceal errors or remove legitimate evidence of the publication history.

2. Reporting Errors and Concerns

Authors, readers, reviewers, institutions, and other parties may report errors, ethical concerns, research-integrity concerns, or other issues affecting submitted or published material.

Concerns should be reported to:

IJPSC Editorial Team
editor@ijpsc.org

A report should identify the article or manuscript concerned and provide sufficient information and supporting evidence to permit an objective editorial assessment.

Reports are handled as confidentially as reasonably possible and are assessed in accordance with the seriousness of the concern, available evidence, applicable legal and ethical requirements, and recognised publication-ethics principles.

3. Editorial Assessment of Post-Publication Concerns

When a substantive concern is raised about a published article, IJPSC conducts an editorial assessment to determine whether further investigation or corrective action is required.

Depending on the nature of the concern, IJPSC may:

request an explanation from the author or authors;
request underlying data, supporting documentation, ethical approvals, consent records, or other relevant materials;
consult independent experts;
contact an author’s institution, research organisation, ethics committee, funder, or other responsible body where appropriate;
review the peer-review and editorial record;
publish an Expression of Concern while an investigation remains unresolved;
publish a Correction;
retract the article; or
take another proportionate post-publication action necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Authors are given an appropriate opportunity to respond to substantive allegations before a final decision is made, except where immediate action is necessary to protect individuals, confidential information, legal rights, or the integrity of the scholarly record.

4. Corrections

A correction is published when an error or omission affects the accuracy, interpretation, or completeness of a published article but does not invalidate its principal findings or conclusions.

Corrections may address errors originating from the authors, editors, or production process.

A correction notice:

clearly identifies the original article;
describes the error and the correction;
states the date of the correction;
is permanently linked to the original article;
is freely accessible; and
forms part of the permanent scholarly record.

The original article is not silently replaced in a manner that conceals the fact that a substantive correction has occurred.

5. Minor Non-Substantive Changes

Minor typographical, formatting, layout, accessibility, or metadata errors that do not affect the scholarly meaning, interpretation, or reliability of an article may be corrected without a formal correction notice.

Changes affecting authorship, data, results, conclusions, interpretation, ethical statements, conflicts of interest, or other substantive elements require transparent documentation.

6. Retractions

IJPSC retracts a published article when there is clear evidence that the article or its principal findings can no longer be regarded as reliable or when another serious breach of research or publication integrity requires retraction.

Grounds for retraction may include:

major errors that invalidate the article’s findings or conclusions;
fabrication or falsification of data, results, images, references, or other evidence;
plagiarism;
duplicate or redundant publication without appropriate disclosure or justification;
unauthorised use of data or other material;
serious copyright infringement or other significant legal concerns;
unethical research;
serious failures relating to informed consent, privacy, or ethical approval;
manipulation or compromise of the peer-review process;
fabricated authorship or reviewer identities;
serious undisclosed conflicts of interest that materially affect the reliability or interpretation of the article; or
other circumstances that render the article materially unreliable or seriously compromise the scholarly record.

Retraction is based on the reliability and integrity of the published record and does not require a finding that misconduct was intentional.

7. Retraction Notices

Every retraction is accompanied by a clearly identified and permanently accessible retraction notice.

The retraction notice:

clearly identifies the retracted article by title, author or authors, and DOI;
is clearly labelled as a retraction;
states who is retracting the article;
states the reason or reasons for retraction;
distinguishes, where possible, between honest error and research or publication misconduct;
uses objective and factual language;
is freely accessible;
is permanently linked to the original article; and
is published promptly after the final editorial decision to retract.

Retraction notices are not removed once published except where an overriding legal requirement makes removal necessary.

8. Treatment of Retracted Articles

A retracted article ordinarily remains accessible as part of the scholarly record.

The article is clearly and prominently marked as Retracted, and the retraction notice is linked to the article.

The original DOI is retained and continues to resolve to the article record or an appropriate page identifying the retracted status of the publication.

The bibliographic history of the publication remains traceable.

9. Expressions of Concern

IJPSC may publish an Expression of Concern when serious questions have been raised about the reliability, integrity, ethical status, or provenance of a published article but sufficient evidence is not yet available to justify a correction or retraction.

An Expression of Concern may be appropriate where:

an investigation is incomplete;
an institutional investigation is pending;
available evidence is inconclusive;
relevant parties are unable or unwilling to provide necessary information;
there are substantial concerns about the reliability of findings that cannot yet be resolved; or
an investigation is taking an unreasonable period of time and readers should be alerted to the unresolved concern.

An Expression of Concern is clearly linked to the relevant article and explains the nature of the unresolved concern without presenting an unsubstantiated conclusion.

When the matter is resolved, the Expression of Concern may be followed by a correction, retraction, or a notice explaining that the concern has been resolved.

10. Addenda and Supplementary Post-Publication Information

IJPSC may publish an addendum when additional information materially improves the completeness or interpretation of a published article without correcting an error that requires a formal correction and without changing the fundamental findings of the original work.

An addendum is clearly identified, dated, and linked permanently to the original article.

11. Article Withdrawal Before Final Publication

A manuscript that has not yet been formally published as the version of record may be withdrawn during the editorial or production process where justified.

Withdrawal does not apply to a fully published version of record merely because an author subsequently wishes to remove the article.

Once a scholarly article has been formally published, substantive concerns are handled through correction, expression of concern, retraction, or another appropriate post-publication mechanism.

12. Removal of Published Content

Complete removal of published scholarly content is reserved for exceptional circumstances.

Removal may be considered where continued publication would:

violate a binding legal requirement or court order;
create a serious and immediate risk to an individual’s privacy, safety, or legal rights;
disclose unlawfully published confidential or personal information;
contain material whose continued availability would itself constitute a serious legal violation; or
create another exceptional risk that cannot reasonably be addressed through correction or retraction.

Where content must be removed, IJPSC seeks to retain a bibliographic record and an explanatory notice whenever legally and ethically permissible.

13. Authorship Corrections

Changes to authorship after publication are made only where an authorship error has been demonstrated and the requested change is appropriately documented.

Where an authorship correction is approved, IJPSC publishes or records the change transparently and updates the relevant publication metadata.

Authorship corrections do not permit retrospective manipulation of author lists for reasons unrelated to genuine authorship attribution.

14. Corrections to Metadata

IJPSC corrects inaccurate bibliographic metadata when necessary.

This may include corrections to author names, affiliations, article titles, abstracts, keywords, publication dates, volume or issue information, DOI metadata, licensing information, or other bibliographic elements.

Where relevant, corrected metadata is submitted to Crossref and other indexing or discovery services.

15. DOI and Persistent Article Record

Corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, and other post-publication actions do not ordinarily result in deletion or replacement of the original article DOI.

The original DOI remains part of the permanent bibliographic record.

Where a separate correction, retraction, or other formal notice is published, IJPSC may assign a separate DOI to that notice and establish appropriate metadata relationships between the notice and the original article.

16. Crossref Metadata Updates

IJPSC maintains article metadata registered with Crossref and updates relevant metadata when substantive publication-status changes occur.

Where applicable, relationships between the original article and corrections, retractions, or other notices are registered or updated through appropriate Crossref metadata services.

Metadata corrections do not require creation of a new DOI for the original article.

17. Crossmark

IJPSC uses the Crossmark framework to support transparent communication of the current status of published scholarly articles.

Where Crossmark metadata is available for an article, readers may use the Crossmark record to determine whether the publication has been corrected, updated, retracted, or otherwise subject to a formal post-publication notice.

The Crossmark record may also contain additional publication-related information where such metadata has been registered by IJPSC.

The IJPSC Crossmark policy is identified by the following DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61030/ijpsc.crossmark

18. Version of Record

The final article published by IJPSC constitutes the version of record.

Substantive post-publication changes to the version of record are documented through an appropriate correction, addendum, expression of concern, retraction, or other formal notice.

The existence and nature of substantive changes remain visible to readers.

19. Author-Initiated Retraction Requests

An author may request retraction of a published article by providing a clear explanation and supporting information.

An author request does not automatically result in retraction. The editorial team evaluates whether retraction is necessary to protect the reliability and integrity of the scholarly record.

IJPSC may retract an article where retraction is warranted even if one or more authors do not agree with the decision.

20. Retractions Requested by Institutions or Third Parties

Recommendations or findings from universities, research institutions, ethics bodies, courts, funders, or other third parties are considered carefully but do not automatically determine the journal’s editorial action.

The final decision concerning correction, expression of concern, or retraction remains an editorial responsibility of IJPSC, subject to applicable legal obligations.

21. Transparency and Accessibility of Notices

Formal correction, retraction, and expression-of-concern notices are freely accessible.

Readers are not required to pay, subscribe, register, or authenticate through an institution to access post-publication notices.

Formal notices are linked prominently to the affected publication wherever technically possible.

22. Preservation of the Publication History

IJPSC seeks to preserve a complete and traceable publication history.

Relevant publication-status information, correction notices, retraction notices, Expressions of Concern, DOI relationships, and metadata updates form part of the permanent scholarly record.

IJPSC does not remove or rewrite the publication history merely to improve the appearance of an article or journal record.

23. Relationship to the Publication Ethics Policy

This Corrections and Retractions Policy forms part of the wider IJPSC framework for publication ethics and research integrity.

Issues involving plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, conflicts of interest, peer-review manipulation, authorship, research ethics, artificial intelligence, complaints, appeals, or other forms of research and publication misconduct are governed additionally by the journal’s Publication Ethics & Research Integrity Policy.

24. Contact

Questions, requests for correction, and concerns relating to published IJPSC articles should be directed to: