Retractions, Corrections & publishing malpractices

Retractions
JCMI believes in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record, therefore on occasion, it may be necessary to retract articles and follows the guideline of COPE in this regard. In such situations, JCMI can consider publishing retractions for articles when:

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  There's an evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of major error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (e.g. of data) or falsification (e.g. image manipulation)
  • It constitutes plagiarism which is not according to ethical guidelines.
  •  The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (i.e., cases of redundant publication).
  •  It contains material or data without authorization for use.
  •  Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (e.g. libel, privacy).
  •  It reports unethical research.
  •  The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest or conflict of interest that, in the view of the editor, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.
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Corrections

JCMI aims to encourage readers and authors in notifying them of the errors found in their manuscripts. Once notified, JCMI looks forwards towards the timely correction(s) of the research work from the side of author, for example:

• important content is incorrect;
• the error affects the interpretation of data or information presented in the article;
• the article’s funders are not acknowledged in compliance with their rules; or
• the article’s metadata (author list, title, etc.) is wrong, thereby affecting its discoverability on third-party abstracting and indexing sites.

Sanctions imposed by JCMI in case of publishing malpractices

The purpose of JCMI in suggesting amendments to a published article (for example a correction or a retraction) is to maintain the integrity of the published literature. Amendments are not to be construed as punitive in any way or to be used as a sanction towards the authors involved.

However, in cases of potentially questionable research practices it is the role of the institution to investigate and provide resolution.

Moreover, on rare occasions, it may be necessary for JCMI to impose sanctions on researchers who have engaged in questionable research practices or publishing ethics malpractice: for example, a time-bound ban against publishing any further articles in the journal when doing so puts the journal’s reputation demonstrably at risk; or refraining from allowing a researcher to serve as a reviewer or editor. JCMI suggests that any bans of this nature should be reviewed at the end of the allotted time period and revoked or extended if necessary.

There should also be a means for any sanctions to be appealed by writing to the JCMI and/or SCEKR.

• Before considering sanctions, Editor-in-Chief with consult with their publisher (SCEKR), particularly for legal advice, and also with the journal owner (for example, a scholarly society).
• Sanctions should be applied consistently and only after careful consideration.
• Before imposing sanctions, journals should formally define the conditions in which they will apply (and remove) sanctions, and the processes they will use to do this.