Retractions are considered and issued in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and when the integrity and veracity of the article are significantly compromised. The purpose of retraction is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity rather than to punish the authors.

Scope of the Policy:

• Fabrication or Falsification: Articles will be retracted in cases of evident fabrication or falsification of data, including image manipulation.
• Plagiarism: If a significant portion of the paper is proven to be plagiarized.
• Duplicate Publication: Articles found to have been published elsewhere, or simultaneously submitted to multiple journals.
• Erroneous Data or Conclusions: If the core conclusions of the paper are invalidated by errors in data, calculation, or experimental procedure.
• Authorship Issues: Inclusion of authors without their consent, or if those listed do not meet authorship criteria.
• Ethical Violations: Non-compliance with ethical standards for the treatment of human subjects or animals.

Procedure for Retraction:

1. Investigation: Upon suspicion of any of the above issues, an initial investigation will be conducted by the editorial board.
2. Contacting Authors: Authors will be contacted with evidence and concerns and asked to provide an explanation or correction.
3. Expert Consultation: If needed, external experts may be consulted.
4. Decision: Based on gathered evidence and responses, the editorial board will make a decision regarding retraction.
5. Notification: If a retraction is issued, a notice will be published explaining the reasons and linked to the original article.

Refund Policy in Case of Retraction:

In the case of article retraction, refunds may be issued on a pro-rata basis as follows:

Note: The refund policy applies only to article processing charges (APCs) and is contingent upon the nature of the retraction. Intentional breaches of ethics by authors may not be eligible for refunds.

The retraction and refund policies serve to uphold the standard of the scholarly record and maintain the trust of the scientific community and the public.