Correction and Retraction

Journal of Islamic Mubādalah (JIM) is committed to maintaining the integrity, accuracy, transparency, and completeness of the scholarly record. The journal recognizes that published articles constitute part of the permanent academic record and, therefore, any changes made after publication must be handled carefully, transparently, and in accordance with recognized standards of scholarly publishing ethics.

This policy explains the procedures of Journal of Islamic Mubādalah regarding corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, article withdrawal, and article removal. The journal is guided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Core Practices and relevant COPE guidance in handling post-publication issues, research misconduct, publication errors, and ethical concerns.

1. General Principles

After an article has been published, changes to the published record may only be made when necessary to correct errors, clarify information, address ethical concerns, or protect the integrity of the scholarly record. The journal will not alter the published record without a clear editorial reason.

All post-publication notices, including corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, withdrawals, or removals, will be issued transparently and will be made freely available to readers. Where applicable, such notices will be linked to the original article to ensure that readers, authors, indexing databases, repositories, and other scholarly platforms can clearly identify the status of the publication.

The Editorial Board will evaluate each case carefully based on the nature of the error or concern, the reliability of the article, the available evidence, the author’s explanation, ethical considerations, and the need to preserve the integrity of the academic record.

2. Corrections

A correction may be issued when an error is identified in a published article, but the error does not invalidate the overall findings, arguments, conclusions, or scholarly contribution of the article. Corrections may relate to errors made by the author or errors introduced during the editorial or production process.

Corrections may include, but are not limited to:

  1. Errors in author names, affiliations, or article metadata;

  2. Errors in tables, figures, references, or acknowledgments;

  3. Errors in funding information or conflict of interest statements;

  4. Minor factual errors that require clarification;

  5. Production or typographical errors that affect the interpretation, indexing, citation, or understanding of the article;

  6. Errors in data presentation that do not change the main findings or conclusions of the article.

When a correction is required, Journal of Islamic Mubādalah will publish a correction notice. The correction notice will clearly identify the corrected article, describe the nature of the correction, indicate the date of correction, and be linked to the original article. The corrected article may be updated when necessary, while maintaining a clear record that a correction has been made.

Minor typographical or formatting errors that do not affect the meaning, interpretation, metadata, citation, indexing, or academic integrity of the article may be corrected at the discretion of the editor without issuing a formal correction notice.

3. Publisher’s Correction

A publisher’s correction may be issued when an error is caused by the journal, publisher, editorial office, or production process. Such errors may include mistakes in article metadata, layout, author information, DOI information, pagination, article title, abstract, figures, tables, or other production-related elements that may affect discoverability, citation, interpretation, or access to the article.

A publisher’s correction will be made freely available and linked to the original article. The notice will explain the correction clearly and transparently.

4. Retractions

A retraction may be issued when there is clear evidence that a published article is unreliable, invalid, unethical, or seriously flawed. Retraction is not intended to punish authors, but to correct the scholarly record and alert readers that the article should not be relied upon as part of the valid academic literature.

A published article may be retracted in cases including, but not limited to:

  1. Clear evidence of plagiarism or self-plagiarism;

  2. Fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of data;

  3. Serious errors that invalidate the findings or conclusions;

  4. Duplicate publication or redundant publication without proper disclosure or justification;

  5. Unauthorized use of data, images, tables, figures, or copyrighted material;

  6. Unethical research practices;

  7. Compromised or manipulated peer review;

  8. Undisclosed conflicts of interest that significantly affect the interpretation of the article;

  9. Authorship misconduct or inability to verify authorship accountability;

  10. Serious breach of publication ethics.

When a retraction is required, Journal of Islamic Mubādalah will publish a retraction notice. The retraction notice will be clearly identified as a retraction, state the title and authors of the retracted article, explain the reason for the retraction, indicate who is retracting the article, and be linked to the original article.

The retracted article will not normally be removed from the journal website. Instead, the article will remain accessible in order to preserve the scholarly record, but it will be clearly marked as Retracted. The PDF and/or HTML version may be watermarked or labelled as retracted where technically possible. The retraction notice will be freely available to all readers.

If a retraction is issued without the agreement of all authors, this will be stated in the retraction notice.

5. Expression of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when serious concerns are raised about the integrity, reliability, or ethical status of a published article, but the available evidence is not yet sufficient to issue a correction or retraction.

An expression of concern may be published when:

  1. An investigation into possible research or publication misconduct is ongoing;

  2. There is inconclusive evidence regarding the reliability of the article;

  3. The authors’ institution or relevant authority is conducting an investigation;

  4. The journal has serious concerns but has not yet received sufficient information to make a final decision;

  5. The investigation is expected to take a significant amount of time.

The expression of concern will clearly identify the article involved, explain the nature of the concern, and be linked to the original article. After the investigation is completed, the expression of concern may be replaced or followed by a correction, retraction, or editorial statement, depending on the outcome of the case.

6. Article Withdrawal

Article withdrawal applies only to manuscripts that have been accepted or published online ahead of final publication but have not yet been formally assigned to a complete journal issue, where applicable. Withdrawal may occur in limited circumstances, such as accidental duplicate publication, serious technical error, legal concern, ethical issue, or author misconduct discovered before final publication.

If an article is withdrawn, Journal of Islamic Mubādalah will issue a withdrawal notice explaining the reason for withdrawal. The withdrawal notice will remain accessible to preserve transparency in the editorial and publication record.

7. Article Removal

Article removal is only considered in rare and exceptional circumstances. The journal may remove or redact an article or part of an article if it contains defamatory material, violates legal rights, infringes privacy or confidentiality, is subject to a court order, poses a serious risk if left available, or contains content that cannot legally or ethically remain online.

In such cases, the metadata of the article, including the title, authors, publication information, and reason for removal, will be retained whenever possible to preserve the integrity and transparency of the scholarly record. A removal notice will be published and made freely accessible.

8. Investigation Procedure

Concerns regarding published articles may be raised by authors, readers, reviewers, editors, institutions, indexing databases, or other parties. All concerns will be assessed carefully, fairly, and confidentially by the Editor-in-Chief and/or the Editorial Board.

The investigation process may include:

  1. Reviewing the published article and supporting evidence;

  2. Checking similarity reports, data, images, references, or metadata;

  3. Requesting clarification from the corresponding author;

  4. Requesting original data, ethical approval documents, or authorship statements;

  5. Consulting reviewers, editorial board members, or independent experts;

  6. Contacting the authors’ institution, ethics committee, funder, or relevant authority when necessary.

Authors are expected to cooperate with the investigation and provide accurate information within the timeframe determined by the editor. Failure to respond may be taken into consideration in the final editorial decision.

9. Editorial Decision

The final decision regarding correction, retraction, expression of concern, withdrawal, or removal is made by the Editor-in-Chief and/or the Editorial Board. The decision will be based on available evidence, ethical standards, editorial assessment, and the need to maintain the reliability of the scholarly record.

Possible editorial actions include:

  1. No further action if the concern is not substantiated;

  2. Publication of a correction notice;

  3. Publication of a publisher’s correction;

  4. Publication of an expression of concern;

  5. Withdrawal of an article before final publication;

  6. Retraction of a published article;

  7. Removal or redaction of an article in exceptional legal or ethical circumstances.

10. Indexing and Metadata Updates

When a correction, retraction, expression of concern, withdrawal, or removal is issued, Journal of Islamic Mubādalah will make reasonable efforts to update the article record and metadata. Where applicable, the journal may notify indexing databases, repositories, DOI registration agencies, and other relevant scholarly platforms to ensure that the article status is accurately reflected.

Journal of Islamic Mubādalah is committed to preserving the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the scholarly record. The journal will take appropriate action when errors, ethical concerns, or publication misconduct are identified. By implementing this policy, the journal seeks to ensure that corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, withdrawals, and removals are handled transparently, fairly, consistently, and in accordance with recognized standards of publication ethics.