Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript under evaluation, request a change in authorship before publication, or request the retraction of a published article must cooperate with the journal’s editorial office and comply with the journal’s ethical principles and publication policies.

The procedures regarding manuscript withdrawal, authorship changes, voluntary withdrawal from authorship, and article retraction are explained below.

Withdrawal of an Unpublished Manuscript

• Authors may request the withdrawal of a manuscript before publication. For manuscripts at the pre-check, editorial review, or peer review stage, all authors must complete and sign the Article Withdrawal Form. A scanned copy of the form, signed by all authors, must be submitted to the journal’s editorial office via e-mail.

• The withdrawal request must clearly state the reason for withdrawing the manuscript. Submission of a withdrawal request does not mean that the manuscript has automatically been withdrawn. The manuscript cannot be considered withdrawn until the request has been reviewed and approved by the editorial office.

• The journal also reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from the evaluation process in cases involving plagiarism, copyright infringement, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate authorship, duplicate submission, misuse of artificial intelligence tools, or any other violation of research or publication ethics.

Changes in Authorship 

• The addition or removal of authors and changes to the order of authors are not permitted after a manuscript has been submitted to the journal.

• Authors must therefore ensure that the author list, author order, and contribution statements are complete and accurate before submission. All authors must approve the final author list and the order in which their names appear.

• If an authorship dispute arises after submission, the editorial process may be suspended until the matter is resolved by the authors’ institution or another competent authority. The journal will not determine authorship or resolve disputes on behalf of the parties.

Voluntary Waiver of Authorship

• An author may voluntarily request the removal of their name from a manuscript before publication. Such requests may arise particularly in manuscripts derived from master’s or doctoral theses where a thesis supervisor, academic advisor, or another contributor does not wish to be included in the author list.

• The author requesting removal must complete and sign the Authorship Waiver Form, clearly state the reason for the request, and confirm that the request is made voluntarily and without coercion. The author must also confirm that they agree to the revised author list and have no objection to the manuscript continuing through the editorial and publication process without their name.

• Thesis supervision, academic advising, general oversight, administrative support, funding acquisition, language editing, or proofreading alone does not automatically qualify a person for authorship. However, a person whose contribution meets the journal’s authorship criteria should not be excluded merely on the basis of academic title, institutional status, personal preference, or an informal agreement.

• For manuscripts derived from a thesis, the journal may request information or supporting documents concerning the relationship between the thesis and the manuscript, the contributions of the student and supervisor, and any applicable institutional requirements.

• Requests for voluntary withdrawal from authorship are evaluated in accordance with the procedures specified under “Changes in Authorship Before Publication.”

Retraction of a Published Article

• Authors may request the retraction of a published article by completing and signing the Article Retraction Form. A scanned copy of the form, signed by all authors, must be submitted to the journal’s editorial office via e-mail.

• The retraction request must clearly and unambiguously explain the reason or reasons for the request. The editor-in-chief and the editorial board evaluate the request and inform the authors of the decision within 15 days at the latest.

• A published article may be retracted if there is clear evidence of plagiarism, copyright infringement, data fabrication or falsification, unreliable findings, duplicate publication, serious authorship violations, failure to obtain required ethics committee approval or permissions, or any other serious breach of research or publication ethics.

• If a published article is retracted, the journal publishes a retraction notice on the journal website. The notice identifies the retracted article and explains the reason for the retraction while maintaining the transparency and integrity of the scholarly record. The original article and the retraction notice are linked to each other where technically possible.

Editorial Board-Initiated Withdrawal or Retraction

• The editor-in-chief and the editorial board may initiate an investigation into any manuscript under evaluation or any published article when there is suspicion of plagiarism, copyright infringement, data fabrication or falsification, incorrect or misleading use of data, duplicate publication, inappropriate authorship, misuse of artificial intelligence tools, or any other potential violation of research or publication ethics.

• If the issue concerns a manuscript under evaluation, the journal may withdraw the manuscript from the evaluation process, reject it, return it to the authors with an explanation of the identified concerns, or suspend the editorial process while further information is obtained.

• If the issue concerns a published article, the journal may publish a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction notice, depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue. In cases requiring retraction, a notice titled “Retracted: [Article Title]” is published on the journal website and linked to the relevant article where appropriate.