Withdrawal Policy

Withdrawal Policy

The editorial office of the Journal operates with a commitment to efficiency and professional integrity. A significant amount of time and effort is invested by the editorial board and external peer reviewers in the evaluation of every submitted manuscript. To ensure these resources are respected, the journal adheres to the following 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• Formal Request: A manuscript will not be considered withdrawn until a formal "Manuscript Withdrawal Request Letter" is submitted to the Editorial Office.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 request must be signed by all co-authors listed in the original submission to ensure unanimous consent.
• Stipulated Justification: Authors must provide a valid and detailed reason for the withdrawal in their formal letter.

2. Withdrawal Before Peer-Review or Acceptance

• Initial Screening Phase: Authors may request to withdraw a manuscript without penalty during the initial screening phase (before it has been assigned to external reviewers).
• Timely Communication: Such requests should be made within 5–7 days of the initial submission to avoid the unnecessary allocation of editorial resources.
• Confirmation: The manuscript will be officially removed from the system only after the Editorial Office acknowledges the request in writing.

3. Withdrawal After Peer-Review or Acceptance

• Ethical Implications: Withdrawing a manuscript after it has undergone peer review or has been formally accepted is strongly discouraged, as it results in a significant waste of intellectual and administrative labor.
• Late-Stage Restrictions: Requests for withdrawal at the page-proof stage or after the "In-Press" version has been generated are generally not permitted, except in cases of identified scientific errors or research misconduct.
• Potential Sanctions:
  • The journal reserves the Right to Sanction authors who withdraw manuscripts at a late stage without a compelling ethical or scientific justification.
  • Such actions may result in a formal debarment from submitting to the journal for a specified period (e.g., six months to one year), similar to penalties for plagiarism.

4. Publisher Rights & Legal Compliance

• Integrity of the Scholarly Record: The publisher has the authority to maintain records of the withdrawal and the associated communications as part of the journal's Legal Defense & Jurisdictional Rights.
• Indefinite Retention: Data related to withdrawals that involve suspected misconduct or ethical breaches will be retained indefinitely to prevent future malpractice.

5. Unethical Withdrawal (Double Submission)

• Prohibition: Withdrawing a manuscript for the purpose of submitting it to another journal because a higher impact factor is sought—after the current journal has already invested resources in peer review—is considered an unethical practice.
• Misconduct Investigation: In such cases, the journal may notify the authors' parent institution or relevant ethical bodies, such as COPE, to maintain research integrity.