Corrections, Retractions, Expressions of Concern, and Withdrawal Policy

Genius Journal of Nursing (GJN) ensures that all published articles follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals issued by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the ethical guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. When significant errors, misleading statements, or ethical concerns are identified in published or submitted work, the journal will take appropriate editorial action in accordance with international publication ethics standards.

Corrections

A correction is an editorial action taken to address minor errors in a published article that do not affect the validity of the study or the reliability of its conclusions.

These errors are typically technical or administrative in nature and may include:

Typographical mistakes
Author affiliations
Table or figure labels
Minor inaccuracies that may cause confusion but do not affect the scientific results

A corrigendum may be issued when authors identify an error after publication. If the correction is considered necessary, the Editor-in-Chief will publish the correction (corrigendum or erratum) as a separate document in a subsequent issue of the journal.

The original article will remain unchanged; however, a notice will be added on the first page of the article stating:

“Corrigendum available: [link to the corrigendum]”

This ensures that readers can easily access the correction and understand the nature of the amendment.

Withdrawal Policy

Article withdrawal refers to the removal of an article from the editorial or publication process before or shortly after online publication when serious issues are identified that make the article unsuitable for publication but have not yet reached the stage of formal retraction.

Articles may be withdrawn for reasons including:

Evidence that research findings are unreliable due to major errors or data fabrication
Duplicate publication without proper citation or permission
Plagiarism or copyright infringement
Unethical research practices, including violations of participant rights
Legal concerns or significant public health risks

Editorial Action

If withdrawal is required, the journal will issue an official withdrawal notice in the form of an announcement, editorial note, or short article in the next journal issue. The notice will include:

Title of the withdrawn article
Author names
Reason for withdrawal
Date of withdrawal

The original article will remain accessible for transparency but will contain a notice on the first page stating:

“This article has been withdrawn from publication.”

Retractions

A retraction is a formal editorial action used to withdraw a published article when serious problems are identified that invalidate the research findings or significantly compromise the integrity of the publication.

Retraction aims to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record and maintain transparency in academic publishing.

Criteria for Retraction

Articles may be retracted when:

Research findings are proven unreliable due to serious methodological errors or data fabrication
Significant plagiarism or duplicate publication is identified
Research involves unethical practices affecting the validity of results
Legal or regulatory violations occur
Errors substantially affect the interpretation or conclusions of the research

Editorial Action

In cases of retraction, the journal will:

Publish an official retraction notice including the article title, author names, reason for retraction, and date.
Maintain the original article online for archival purposes while clearly marking it as retracted.

A statement will be added on the first page of the article:

“RETRACTED: This article has been retracted from publication. See the retraction notice for details.”

The PDF version of the article will also include a “Retracted” watermark to clearly indicate its status.

Author Sanctions

In cases involving serious ethical violations such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, or unethical research practices, the journal may impose sanctions, including:

Written warnings
Temporary prohibition from submitting manuscripts to the journal (e.g., for one year)
Notification to the authors’ affiliated institutions where appropriate

For unintentional or technical errors, corrective actions may be applied without additional sanctions.

Article Deletion (Legal Restrictions)

Deletion of an article from the journal database may occur only in very limited circumstances, such as when the article:

Is defamatory or infringes legal rights
Is subject to a court order
Poses serious health risks if followed or applied

In such cases, the article text will be removed from the journal website while the metadata (title and author information) will remain available. The article page will display a notice stating that the article has been removed for legal reasons.

Article Substitution

In rare cases where the content of an article may pose serious public health risks, authors may request to retract and replace the original article with a corrected version.

In this situation, the journal will publish a replacement article, and the retraction notice will include a link to the corrected version along with the publication history.

Expressions of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when there is substantial doubt regarding the integrity, honesty, or reliability of a published article, but the available evidence is not yet sufficient to warrant retraction.

This may occur when:

An investigation is ongoing but has not yet reached a conclusion
Evidence of potential misconduct exists but remains inconclusive
Concerns have been raised that require further verification

The Expression of Concern will be formally published and linked directly to the article in question so that readers are aware of the potential issues.

All procedures related to corrections, retractions, withdrawal, and expressions of concern in Genius Journal of Nursing (GJN) follow the COPE Retraction Guidelines, available at:

https://publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines

Through these policies, the journal seeks to uphold transparency, accountability, and the integrity of scholarly publishing.