Retraction of a published article is an essential mechanism for ensuring research integrity, correcting the scholarly record, and informing the academic community about significant violations or errors identified in already published materials.

Retraction decisions are based on the principles of publication ethics, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Retraction Guidelines, and the best practices of leading international publishers and journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science.

Grounds for article retraction may include, but are not limited to:
– detection of plagiarism or any form of improper citation or unattributed use of content;
– redundant or duplicate publication (including self-plagiarism or publication in another journal without proper reference);
– identification of data falsification or fabrication of research results or materials;
– presence of significant methodological or interpretative errors that undermine the reliability and scientific validity of the findings;
– undisclosed or hidden conflicts of interest that may have influenced the objectivity of the research;
– violation of copyright or unauthorized publication of materials;
– other serious breaches of publication ethics.

Retraction procedure
If the author(s) identify the need to retract a published article, they must submit a formal written request to the editorial board with a detailed explanation of the reasons. The editorial board reviews the request and makes the final decision regarding the appropriateness of retraction.

In cases where retraction is initiated by the editorial board (based on internal review or information received from third parties), the editorial office informs the authors about the initiation of the retraction procedure and provides justification for the decision. If necessary, the editorial board may involve independent experts or members of the editorial board to conduct an additional assessment.

Publication of retraction notice
Once the decision to retract an article has been made, the article is not removed from the journal archive in order to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record. It remains in the respective issue on the journal’s website; however, it is clearly marked with the label “RETRACTED / WITHDRAWN”, including the date of retraction and a brief explanation of the reasons.

A corresponding note is also added to the table of contents of the issue and to the article metadata to ensure transparency, proper citation practices, and accurate indexing in bibliometric databases.