Withdraw Policy

Withdraw Policy

The editorial office of the Journal operates with a strong commitment to efficiency, transparency, and professional integrity. A significant amount of time and effort is invested by the Editorial Board and external peer reviewers in evaluating every submitted manuscript. To ensure that these scholarly resources are respected, the Journal adheres to the following manuscript withdrawal protocols.

1. General Withdrawal Requirements

• Formal Request: A manuscript will not be considered withdrawn until a formal “Manuscript Withdrawal Request Letter” is submitted to the Editorial Office.
• Authorized Signatures: The withdrawal request must be signed by all co-authors listed in the original submission to ensure unanimous consent.
• Stipulated Justification: Authors must clearly state a valid and detailed reason for requesting withdrawal in the formal letter.

2. Withdrawal Before Peer-Review or Acceptance

• Initial Screening Phase: Authors may request withdrawal without penalty during the initial screening stage, provided the manuscript has not yet been assigned to external peer reviewers.
• Timely Communication: Such requests should be made within 5–7 business days from the date of initial submission to avoid unnecessary allocation of editorial resources.
• Confirmation: A manuscript will be officially removed from the journal system only after written acknowledgment is issued by the Editorial Office.

3. Withdrawal After Peer-Review or Acceptance

• Ethical Implications: Withdrawal after peer review or formal acceptance is strongly discouraged, as it results in the misuse of scholarly and administrative effort.
• Late-Stage Restrictions: Requests for withdrawal at the page-proof stage or after generation of the “In-Press” version are generally not permitted, except in cases involving serious scientific errors or research misconduct.
• Potential Sanctions:
  • The Journal reserves the right to impose sanctions on authors who withdraw manuscripts at a late stage without compelling ethical or scientific justification.
  • Sanctions may include formal debarment from submitting manuscripts to the Journal for a specified period (typically six months to one year), similar to penalties imposed for plagiarism-related offenses.

4. Publisher Rights & Legal Compliance

• Integrity of the Scholarly Record: The Publisher reserves the right to maintain permanent records of manuscript withdrawals and related correspondence as part of its legal, ethical, and jurisdictional obligations.
• Indefinite Retention: Documentation related to withdrawals involving suspected ethical violations or research misconduct may be retained indefinitely to prevent future malpractice.

5. Unethical Withdrawal (Double Submission)

• Prohibition: Withdrawal of a manuscript for the purpose of submitting it to another journal—particularly after peer-review—solely to seek a higher impact factor is considered unethical.
• Misconduct Investigation: In such cases, the Journal reserves the right to notify the authors’ affiliated institutions or relevant ethical bodies (such as COPE) to safeguard research integrity.