Retraction, Correction And Expression Of Concern Policy

RETRACTION, CORRECTION AND EXPRESSION OF CONCERN POLICY — Ready to Publish

1. Commitment to the Published Record

JLLS is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. All post-publication corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern are handled in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and are published transparently and promptly.

2. Corrections (Erratum / Corrigendum)

An erratum is issued when JLLS has introduced an error during production. A corrigendum is issued when an author has made an honest error that does not affect the integrity of the findings. Correction notices are: (a) published as rapidly as possible; (b) clearly identified as corrections to a specific named article; (c) linked bidirectionally with the original article in the online record; (d) freely available to all readers under the same open access terms as the original article.

3. Retractions

JLLS will retract a published article when there is clear evidence that: the findings are unreliable as a result of misconduct (data fabrication/falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication); the findings are unreliable due to honest error; the research was conducted without appropriate ethical approval; or the author(s) have failed to disclose a major competing interest.

Retraction notices will: state the reason for retraction; be published as rapidly as possible; be linked bidirectionally with the retracted article; retain the original article online with clear watermarking as 'RETRACTED' including the date of retraction. Authorship of a retraction notice belongs to the editors of JLLS; where the authors also endorse the retraction, this will be stated.

4. Expression of Concern

JLLS may issue an expression of concern when: an investigation into alleged misconduct is ongoing and its outcome may change the reliability of published work; there is reason to believe that an investigation was not conducted fairly. An expression of concern is not a retraction but serves to alert readers to concerns about the published record.

5. Appeals

Authors may appeal retraction decisions by contacting the Editor-in-Chief in writing within 30 days of notification. Appeals are reviewed by a member of the Editorial Board not involved in the original decision.