Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern Policy

An-Nahdah Al-'Arabiyah is committed to the accuracy, continuity, and integrity of the published scholarly record. The Editor-in-Chief oversees decisions about corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions, with independent editorial handling when the matter concerns the Editor-in-Chief or another responsible editor. The publisher ensures that notices remain accessible and that article pages and relevant metadata reflect the current status of the work.

Corrections

The journal publishes a correction when a material error affects accuracy, attribution, interpretation, or completeness but does not invalidate the principal findings. Examples include inaccurate quotations or references, missing acknowledgments, authorship and affiliation errors, mislabeled manuscript images, and correctable analytic mistakes. A correction notice identifies the article, states what changed and why, and links to the original record. Substantive corrections are not made silently.

Expressions of Concern

An expression of concern may be issued when credible issues raise substantial questions about a published work but an investigation is incomplete, inconclusive, or requires institutional cooperation. The notice identifies the concern without asserting unproven misconduct and is updated or superseded when the matter is resolved.

Retractions

Retraction may be necessary when a published work's core claims are unreliable because of major error, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, substantial redundant publication, unethical research, improper use of protected content, compromised peer review, or another serious issue that a correction cannot address. Retraction protects readers and the scholarly record; it is not a punishment for an author's request to withdraw an unpublished manuscript.

Procedure and Decisions

Anyone may report concerns through the journal's official contact address. Editors conduct an initial assessment, invite responses from affected parties where appropriate, review the evidence with independent expertise when necessary, and may consult relevant institutions. The editorial decision may proceed without agreement from every author if a clear public-interest case requires action. The journal documents reasons and considers whether an honest error or demonstrated misconduct is involved.

Notices and Indexing

Every formal notice is freely accessible, identifies the affected work and its DOI, states the action and grounds in factual language, identifies the responsible decision-making party, and links bidirectionally to the article where technically possible. Retracted articles ordinarily remain accessible with a clear retraction marking on the landing page and PDF. Crossref update metadata and a DOI for the notice are registered when supported by the publisher's DOI workflow.

Withdrawal Before Publication

Authors may request withdrawal of an unpublished submission in writing with an explanation and confirmation from co-authors. The editorial office verifies and records the request, normally closes the submission, and addresses any related ethical issues separately. Unpublished withdrawal is not labeled a retraction. The journal does not impose automatic affiliation-wide blacklisting or demand a replacement manuscript as a withdrawal penalty.

Exceptional Removal

Complete removal of published content is reserved for exceptional legal, privacy, or safety reasons that cannot be managed through correction or retraction. When possible, the journal preserves a public bibliographic notice and persistent metadata explaining the action without exposing protected information.

Guidance

COPE Retraction Guidelines:
https://members.publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/retraction-guidelines-cope.pdf

Crossref Version Control and Retractions:
https://www.crossref.org/documentation/principles-practices/best-practices/versioning/