Correction and Retraction Policy

The University of Sharjah Journals adopt the following correction and retraction policy: 

  • Each journal requests authors to inform the Scientific Publishing Unit of any corrections they find or are notified about in their articles after publication. 
  • Correction will be published once approved by the Journal Editor in chief. 
  • The updated version of the paper shall replace the old version.
  • The journal’s editorial board may consider retraction of an article if there is solid evidence of plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical behavior.
  • Once the editorial board takes a retraction decision, the editor will publish a substitute version of the article with a retraction note replacing the original one.
  • It may still be possible to access the PDF of the retracted article, but the editor shall replace it with a version bearing the watermark Retracted.

Policy Statement 

Despite the great effort made by researchers in preparing their research works, the great efforts made by the editorial board in the peer-review process, and the selection of qualified referees, some research articles, published or accepted for publication, may require removal or withdrawal for reasonable scientific reasons. Accordingly, and under extraordinary circumstances, it may be necessary to carry out withdrawal and correction procedures, as per the following policies. 

Retraction 

On the retraction occasion, it is necessary to retract the article. Articles may be retracted if: 

  • There is evidence of a significant scientific error that may invalidate the article's conclusions
  • There is evidence that the findings have previously been published by any publishing medium without proper cross-referencing, and permission.
  • There is evidence of ethical issues, such as plagiarism or inappropriate authorship. 
  • There is evidence of a violation of the journal’s publishing policy.

To ensure the handling of retractions according to publication best practices and following COPE Retraction Guidelines, the UoS adopts the following retraction procedures: 

  • An article requiring potential retraction is brought to the attention of the journal's administration or Editors. 
  • The editor shall communicate the final decision about retraction to the author and, if necessary, to any other relevant bodies, (Need to be rephrased)
  • The retraction statement is subsequently published on the journal’s website. 

Article Withdrawal 

The author cannot withdraw submitted manuscripts because the withdrawal is a waste of valuable resources, knowing that the editors and referees have spent a great deal of time processing submitted manuscripts and works invested by the publisher. For attention, before submitting the manuscript through the journal’s OJS-based system, the author must approve the checklist provided by the journal. 

  • If the author requests his/her paper withdrawal of his/her research article when it is still in the peer-reviewing process, s/he should pay a fine of USD 200 per article. 
  • If the author refuses to pay the fine, s/he shall be banned from publication in the journal for 3 years. 
  • If the author requests withdrawal of the article after it has been accepted for publication, s/he must pay a fine of USD 200 per article. 
  • If the author requests withdrawal of the article before sending it to the reviewers, a  letter, signed by the handling author, must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief and the Scientific Publishing Unit administration. 

Correction of the Author’s Information (the researcher)

  • The journal corrects the author/authors' information if it is incorrect.
  • The decision on the required correction is made by the editor-in-chief of the journal and the Scientific Publishing Unit administration 

Article Retraction

It may be essential, in some cases, to remove an article published on the journal's website. This will be the case only if:

(1) an article is defamatory;

(2) it infringes others' legal rights;

(3)  the journal has good reason to expect that the article will be the subject of a court ruling, or

(4) the article, if acted upon, may pose a severe health risk.

In these cases, the editor will replace the article with a watermark indicating that the journal removed it for legal reasons.