Ethical Investigation
Concerns are reviewed through evidence-based assessment, editorial neutrality and documented ethical evaluation.
Preserving Scholarly Integrity, Citation Transparency and Academic Reliability
International Journal of Arts, Commerce, Science and Technology (IJACST) is committed to protecting the integrity, authenticity and long-term reliability of the scholarly record through a transparent, ethically governed and internationally aligned Retraction Policy framework.
The journal recognizes that responsible academic publishing requires not only rigorous peer review, but also clear mechanisms for correcting, updating and safeguarding published literature when serious ethical, scientific, authorship, legal or metadata concerns arise.
DOI-Linked Transparency
Retraction notices remain linked to original article records to preserve citation traceability and scholarly accountability.
Metadata Continuity
Retraction status may be reflected through structured metadata, indexing communication and long-term scholarly preservation.
IJACST follows internationally recognized publication ethics principles inspired by COPE, scholarly metadata governance standards and responsible digital publishing practices to maintain trustworthy academic communication.
Protecting the Reliability of Academic Literature
Modern research publishing operates within an interconnected global ecosystem of universities, libraries, indexing systems, repositories, citation databases and scholarly discovery platforms. In such an environment, maintaining the reliability of published academic literature is essential for scientific progress, institutional trust and responsible knowledge dissemination.
IJACST considers retraction not as a punitive mechanism, but as a scholarly integrity safeguard designed to correct unreliable literature, protect future researchers, prevent misinformation propagation and preserve academic transparency.
Procedural Fairness
All retraction-related concerns are reviewed through documented, balanced and evidence-based editorial procedure.
Editorial Neutrality
Decisions are made without personal, institutional, political, commercial or reputational bias.
Metadata Transparency
Retraction actions are handled in a way that preserves citation history, DOI traceability and indexing clarity.
Permanent Scholarly Traceability
The journal avoids silent deletion and maintains transparent scholarly records for future academic verification.
Circumstances Under Which Retraction May Be Considered
IJACST may consider retraction of published content where credible evidence establishes that the scholarly record has been significantly compromised by scientific error, ethical violation, authorship misconduct, publication malpractice or legal concern.
Scientific Errors & Data Reliability
- Major methodological failure
- Serious computational error
- Falsified experimental outcomes
- Fabricated datasets
- Manipulated statistical reporting
- Invalid conclusions
Plagiarism & Publication Misconduct
- Plagiarism or self-plagiarism
- Duplicate publication
- Paper mill submissions
- Peer review manipulation
- Fraudulent citation practices
- Unethical republication
Ethical Violations
- Lack of ethical approval
- Absence of informed consent
- Unauthorized data usage
- Human or animal research violations
- Undeclared conflicts of interest
- Violation of research ethics standards
Authorship & Legal Misconduct
- Ghost, guest or honorary authorship
- Unauthorized author inclusion or exclusion
- Author identity manipulation
- Copyright violation
- Licensing breach
- Intellectual property concerns
Structured Retraction Investigation Procedure
IJACST follows a formal, transparent and evidence-driven investigation framework designed to preserve fairness, accountability and editorial neutrality.
Initial Complaint or Detection
Potential concerns may originate from reviewers, readers, editors, institutions, plagiarism systems, metadata audits or post-publication evaluations.
Preliminary Editorial Assessment
The editorial office conducts evidence verification, metadata review, procedural analysis, scope evaluation and integrity screening.
Formal Investigation
The journal may request raw data, institutional clarification, peer review history, similarity reports and supporting documentation.
Ethical Evaluation
Editorial decisions are guided by documented evidence, ethical publishing principles, institutional responses and research integrity standards.
Final Editorial Decision
Outcomes may include no action, editorial clarification, corrigendum, expression of concern, withdrawal or formal retraction.
Retraction Notice, Citation Integrity and DOI Traceability
Where retraction becomes necessary, IJACST publishes a formal and transparent Retraction Notice designed to preserve maximum scholarly accountability, citation continuity and metadata integrity.
Formal Retraction Notice
Every retraction notice clearly identifies the article title, DOI reference, editorial decision date, initiating authority and the specific reason for retraction.
Permanent DOI Linkage
Retracted manuscripts remain permanently linked to their original DOI records to preserve traceability, metadata continuity and academic citation transparency.
Public Scholarly Transparency
The journal strongly opposes silent deletion of academic content because it damages scholarly accountability and historical citation reliability.
Preservation of the Scholarly Record and Metadata Continuity
IJACST follows international archiving and metadata preservation standards to ensure that retracted research remains historically traceable while being clearly identified as unreliable.
Permanent Watermarking
Retracted PDF and HTML versions may remain accessible but are permanently marked as RETRACTED to preserve citation history while preventing misuse.
Metadata Communication
Retraction status may be communicated to CrossRef, Google Scholar, indexing databases and metadata harvesting systems through structured machine-readable metadata.
Long-Term Archival Preservation
The journal supports DOI permanence, metadata interoperability, institutional archiving and long-term digital preservation systems to maintain the continuity and discoverability of the scholarly record.
Temporary Scholarly Warning and Integrity Protection Mechanism
Where investigations remain ongoing but serious integrity concerns exist, IJACST may issue an Expression of Concern to protect readers and maintain transparency during active editorial review.
Situations Where It May Apply
- Investigations remain incomplete
- Institutional reports are pending
- Evidence remains inconclusive
- Immediate transparency is necessary
- Potential integrity risk exists
Scholarly Purpose
- Protect readers and researchers
- Maintain procedural fairness
- Prevent premature editorial judgment
- Support transparent communication
- Preserve institutional accountability
Responsible Scholarly Record Maintenance
Not all publication issues require formal retraction. In many cases, the journal may instead publish corrections, metadata updates or editorial amendments where the scientific reliability of the article remains substantially intact.
Corrigenda & Errata
Minor scientific, editorial or technical errors may be corrected through formal corrigenda or errata notices.
Metadata Updates
Author affiliations, ORCID details, references, article details and DOI metadata may be updated where necessary.
Citation Amendments
Citation-related corrections may be issued to preserve scholarly discoverability and indexing accuracy.
Anti-Manipulation Framework and Ethical Publishing Protection
IJACST actively opposes unethical practices that compromise scholarly trust, citation reliability and publication integrity. The journal continuously strengthens editorial safeguards to protect researchers, institutions, indexing systems and academic readers from manipulated scholarly content.
Plagiarism Prevention
Manuscripts may undergo plagiarism screening, citation verification and originality assessment before publication approval.
Fake Peer Review Protection
The journal maintains safeguards against manipulated reviewer identities, fabricated review reports and unethical peer review interference.
AI Misuse Monitoring
AI-generated fabricated manuscripts, manipulated references and misleading automated academic content are not accepted.
Citation Integrity Protection
The journal opposes citation cartels, indexing manipulation and unethical citation inflation practices.
Metadata Governance and Scholarly Discoverability Assurance
IJACST integrates advanced scholarly publishing infrastructure designed to support academic discoverability, metadata interoperability and transparent digital scholarly communication.
Google Scholar Compatibility
Semantic scholarly architecture and machine-readable metadata support discoverability through academic search systems.
Semantic HTML Structure
Structured HTML architecture improves metadata harvesting, accessibility and search engine understanding.
CrossRef DOI Integration
DOI-linked publishing infrastructure supports citation identity, persistent linking and metadata traceability.
Machine-Readable Metadata
Structured metadata supports indexing systems, repositories and citation harvesting services.
Institutional Accountability and Responsible Academic Oversight
The editorial board, publisher and integrity governance framework collectively support responsible scholarly publishing practices through transparent procedures, institutional cooperation and evidence-based ethical evaluation.
Editorial Governance Includes
- Ethical review systems
- Procedural documentation
- Institutional cooperation
- Conflict-of-interest management
- Evidence-based decision-making
- Transparent editorial communication
Institutional Collaboration
- Universities
- Research institutions
- Funding agencies
- Ethics committees
- Indexing platforms
- Metadata services
How to Report a Retraction or Research Integrity Concern
Concerns regarding published research, publication misconduct, metadata inaccuracies or integrity-related issues may be submitted through the official editorial communication channel.
Required Information
- Article title
- DOI or manuscript reference
- Description of concern
- Supporting evidence
- Institutional information, if applicable
- Contact details
Official Research Integrity Office
editor@ijacst.com
Subject Format:
Retraction Concern – [Article DOI]
OR
Publication Integrity Complaint – [Article Title]
Frequently Asked Questions
Retraction Policy FAQ
Does retraction permanently remove an article?
No. Retracted content may remain accessible with clear “RETRACTED” marking
to preserve scholarly traceability, citation continuity and academic transparency.
Does the journal follow COPE principles?
Yes. IJACST follows internationally recognized ethical publishing principles
inspired by COPE best practices.
Can minor errors lead to retraction?
Not always. Minor issues may instead be resolved through corrections,
corrigenda or editorial amendments.
Are authors informed before retraction?
Yes. The journal follows procedural fairness and provides opportunity
for author response during investigation.
Can readers report research integrity concerns?
Yes. Readers, researchers, reviewers, editors and institutions may submit
integrity concerns with appropriate supporting evidence.
Are DOI records updated after retraction?
Yes. Retraction status may be reflected through DOI-linked metadata updates
and indexing communication systems.
Protecting the Integrity of Global Scholarly Communication
IJACST remains committed to preserving reliable, transparent and ethically governed scholarly literature through responsible editorial oversight, DOI-linked transparency and internationally aligned publication integrity standards.