Article Retraction Policy

In the event of discovering violations of publication ethics rules or the need to make significant corrections to already published materials, the editorial board is guided by the current recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

General Provisions

This procedure establishes the process for retracting articles published in the collection of scientific papers. The purpose of retracting articles is to correct published information, prevent the dissemination of unreliable data, and ensure the academic integrity of scientific publications. The procedure can be initiated by the authors of the article, the editorial board of the collection, readers, reviewers, or other interested parties.

Grounds for Article Retraction

  • Established fact of academic plagiarism or improper borrowing of materials.

  • Presence of significant conceptual or methodological errors in the research that make its results unreliable.

  • Duplicate publication of the same material in other publications without proper justification and citation (self-plagiarism).

  • Fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of research data.

  • Concealment of a conflict of interest that could have significantly influenced the course of the research or the interpretation of the results.

  • Discovery of serious violations of ethical standards during the conduct of the research.

  • Discovery of facts of concealed or dishonest use of artificial intelligence tools (generation of scientific results, fictitious data, or absence of the mandatory declaration of AI use, as stipulated by the publication's policy).

Procedure for Initiating Article Retraction

The person initiating the procedure submits a written application (appeal) addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, justifying the reasons for retraction. The application must be accompanied by materials and evidence confirming the need to retract the article. The application is taken into consideration by the Editor-in-Chief within 5 working days.

Consideration of the Article Retraction Issue

To consider the case, the Editor-in-Chief forms an expert commission (at least three people), which may include members of the editorial board and external independent specialists. The commission conducts a comprehensive analysis of the material and the provided evidence. The authors of the article are obligatorily given the opportunity to provide their written explanations regarding the identified facts. The term of the commission's work is no more than 30 calendar days.

Decision Making

Based on the results of the investigation, the commission may make one of the following decisions:

  1. Reject the demand to retract the article (due to groundless accusations).

  2. Propose that the authors publish an official correction if the error does not invalidate the overall conclusions of the research.

  3. Recommend full retraction of the article.

The decision is made by a majority vote of the commission members and is approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

Formalizing the Article Retraction

If a decision is made to retract:

  • In the electronic version of the article (PDF) on the collection's website, a "RETRACTED" watermark is applied to each page.

  • An official notice of the article's retraction is published, indicating the initiators and the reasons.

  • The notice contains a direct link to the original article.

The article retraction notice must contain: a clear title ("Article Retraction Notice"), full bibliographic data of the original publication, a detailed justification of the reasons for retraction, and the effective date of the decision.

Consequences of Article Retraction

  • The retracted article remains in the electronic archive of the collection (to preserve the history of changes) but with appropriate marking. Physically, the pages are not deleted from the files.

  • Official notifications of the article's retraction are sent to: the authors of the article, scientometric and abstracting databases in which the collection is indexed, as well as the V.I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.

  • Information about the article's retraction is additionally published in the next printed issue of the collection.

Authors' Rights

Authors have the right to:

  • Receive a detailed written justification for the decision to retract the article.

  • Publish their comment on the decision to retract the article.

  • File an appeal against the commission's decision.

The appeal is submitted addressed to the Editor-in-Chief and is considered within 14 calendar days.