Retraction of an academic article is a mechanism for correcting published information and notifying readers that a specific scientific paper contains serious flaws or erroneous data that cannot be trusted. Such flaws or errors may result from either negligence or intentional misconduct.
A scientific article is retracted to alert readers to issues such as duplicate submissions to multiple journals, detected plagiarism, or undisclosed conflicts of interest—any factor compromising publication quality. The main reason for retraction is a violation of academic ethics.
An article may be retracted either at the author's request or upon the submission of the Editor-in-Chief.
Once a decision to retract an article is made, the editorial board indicates the reason and the date of retraction. The article and its metadata remain on the journal's website within the corresponding issue; however, the electronic version of the text is marked "RETRACTED" along with the retraction date. The same label is applied to the article itself and in the table of contents. Information regarding the retraction is also subject to proper public disclosure.