Article Retraction and Withdrawal

Article Retraction, Withdrawal, Removal, and Replacement Policy

The Journal of Cultural Narratives in Digital Society (JCNDS) is committed to maintaining the integrity, accuracy, and permanence of the scholarly record. Editorial decisions regarding the publication, correction, retraction, withdrawal, removal, or replacement of articles are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief in accordance with the journal's editorial policies, international publication ethics, and the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

As a general principle, published articles constitute the permanent scholarly record and should remain available, accurate, and unchanged whenever possible. However, in exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to retract, withdraw, remove, or replace an article to protect the integrity of the academic literature.

All actions are undertaken only after careful investigation and, where appropriate, consultation with the authors, reviewers, editorial board, and relevant institutions.

Article Retraction

An article may be retracted after publication when there is clear evidence of serious problems affecting the reliability or integrity of the work. Reasons for retraction may include, but are not limited to:

  • Plagiarism or copyright infringement;
  • Duplicate or redundant publication;
  • Fabrication or falsification of data;
  • Major errors that invalidate the research findings;
  • Unethical research or publication practices;
  • Fraudulent authorship or undisclosed conflicts of interest.

A retraction notice will be published promptly and linked to the original article. The notice will clearly state:

  • the reason(s) for the retraction;
  • who initiated the retraction (author(s), editor, or publisher); and
  • the date of retraction.

The original article will remain available online to preserve the scholarly record but will be clearly marked as Retracted on every page and in the article metadata.

Article Withdrawal

Article withdrawal applies only to manuscripts that have been accepted but have not yet been formally published in a journal issue.

Withdrawal may be permitted only in exceptional circumstances, including:

  • accidental duplicate submission or publication;
  • significant errors discovered before publication;
  • ethical concerns identified during production;
  • legal or copyright issues; or
  • other circumstances that seriously compromise the publication process.

When an article is withdrawn, the manuscript files (HTML and PDF, if available) will be replaced with a withdrawal notice explaining that the manuscript has been withdrawn in accordance with the journal's publication policies.

Article Removal

In extremely rare circumstances, an article may be removed from the journal's online platform when retaining the full text would violate legal obligations or present a significant risk.

Examples include:

  • court orders requiring removal;
  • defamatory or unlawful content;
  • infringement of legal rights;
  • violations of privacy or confidentiality; or
  • content that may pose a serious public risk if acted upon.

In such cases, the article's metadata (including title, authors, DOI, and bibliographic information) will remain available, while the full text will be replaced with a notice explaining the reason for removal.

Article Replacement

If a published article contains serious errors that could substantially mislead readers, but the authors are able to provide a corrected and reliable version, the Editor may approve an article replacement.

In such cases:

  • the original article will remain part of the scholarly record;
  • a replacement notice will be published explaining the reason for the replacement;
  • the corrected article will be linked to the original publication; and
  • the publication history will remain transparent to readers.

Preservation of the Scholarly Record

Authors retain copyright to their work under the journal's licensing policy. However, copyright ownership does not grant authors the right to remove or withdraw a published article at will.

Once an article has been published, JCNDS is responsible for preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. Any decision regarding retraction, withdrawal, removal, or replacement will be made solely on the basis of publication ethics, legal considerations, and internationally accepted editorial standards.