Correction, Retraction, and Post-Publication Amendment Policy
1. Purpose
RAE-EAR keeps the articles it publishes permanently available and, at the same time, corrects the record when content is shown to be erroneous or unreliable. Corrections and retractions do not remove what was published; they are added as notices linked to the article. Their purpose is to preserve the accuracy of the literature, not to sanction authors.
2. Framework
This policy follows the current recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) on corrections and retractions, and SciELO’s criteria for errata and retractions. In situations not covered by this policy, the current COPE guidance applies.
3. Reporting a problem
Anyone may inform the editor of a possible error or integrity concern in a published article by writing to [email protected]. The journal assesses each report on the basis of the evidence provided, even if it is anonymous, and treats the information confidentially. The person making the report is not identified without their consent.
4. Decision process
The editor assesses each case and may consult the editorial board, specialists or the authors’ institution. Before a correction, an expression of concern or a retraction is published, the authors are given the opportunity to respond. The journal may act without waiting for the outcome of an institutional investigation and without the authors’ agreement. The editor’s decision is final.
5. Correction
A correction is published when an article contains an error that affects its content, its comprehension or its bibliographic data, but does not invalidate its results. A correction may result from an error made by the journal during editing, for example in a table, a figure or the authors’ details, or from an error made by the authors and detected after publication. In the latter case, the correction requires the agreement of all co-authors. Corrections are not published for spelling or typographical errors that do not alter the meaning.
6. Expression of concern
The editor may publish an expression of concern to alert readers to an article while an unresolved problem is being investigated, for example when there is inconclusive evidence of misconduct or an ongoing investigation that will take time to conclude. It is a provisional notice: it is replaced by a correction or a retraction, or withdrawn if the problem is resolved in favour of the article.
7. Retraction
An article is retracted when its main results or conclusions are no longer reliable. Grounds include, among others:
- fabrication or manipulation of data, or an honest error that invalidates the results;
- plagiarism or duplicate publication;
- manipulated peer review;
- undisclosed conflicts of interest that affect the results;
- false authorship or impersonation;
- undisclosed use of artificial intelligence that misrepresents the work or its authorship, in accordance with the Responsible AI Use Policy.
Retraction does not require the authors’ agreement. The retracted article is not removed: it remains available, marked as retracted and linked to a notice that states the reason in objective terms. The retraction is communicated to the journal’s indexing services.
8. Removal
Exceptionally, an article may be removed from the site when keeping it available would be unlawful or would cause serious harm, for example in response to a court order, defamatory content or the unauthorized publication of personal data. In that case, the article’s bibliographic data and a notice explaining its removal are retained.
9. Effective date and review
This policy replaces the previous Correction and Retraction Policy and takes effect on its publication date. It will be reviewed periodically in light of developments in COPE recommendations. Enquiries may be sent to the editor at [email protected].
