Retraction

1. Policy Statement

Penamas is committed to keeping an accurate and reliable scholarly record. This policy explains how the journal handles manuscript withdrawal, corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions. It follows the COPE Retraction Guidelines and the journal's Publication Ethics and Research Misconduct policies. The purpose of these actions is to protect readers and the integrity of the record, not to punish authors. The action taken depends on how serious the problem is and how far it affects the reliability of the article.

2. Manuscript Withdrawal

Withdrawal ends editorial processing of a manuscript that has not been published as an official article.

• Authors may request withdrawal by writing to the Editorial Office. The request must state the manuscript title and submission ID, the reason, and confirmation that all co-authors agree.
• The editors may ask for clarification and may check authorship, originality, or ethical concerns before confirming the withdrawal.
• The journal may also withdraw a manuscript, for example when serious ethical problems are found during review.
• Authors may not submit the same manuscript to another journal while it is under review at Penamas.
• Once an article is published, including online ahead of issue, correction or retraction applies instead of withdrawal.

3. Article Correction

A correction is used when a published article contains an error that can be fixed without making its main findings or conclusions unreliable.

• Erratum: corrects an error introduced during editing or production by the journal.
• Corrigendum: corrects an error made by the authors, such as data presentation, statistics, author details, a missing acknowledgment, funding, or a mislabeled figure.
• Addendum: adds clarifying information that does not change the original findings. New research must be submitted as a separate manuscript.

The Editor-in-Chief decides, and may consult independent experts. The correction notice must state what was changed, be linked to the original article, and be dated.

4. Expression of Concern

An expression of concern is issued when there are credible and serious questions about an article, but the evidence is not yet enough to decide between correction and retraction. Examples are doubts about data authenticity, an investigation by the author's institution that is still ongoing, or conflicting evidence. The notice states the concern in neutral terms and stays attached to the article. It is later replaced or updated by a correction, a retraction, or a statement that the concern has been resolved.

5. Article Retraction

An article may be retracted when reliable evidence shows that:

• the findings are unreliable because of misconduct (for example fabrication or falsification) or honest but serious error;
• the same work was published elsewhere without disclosure, permission, or justification (redundant publication);
• the article contains plagiarism, including unacknowledged reuse of one's own published work;
• the research violates ethical requirements, such as missing consent or ethical clearance; or
• other serious breaches of publication ethics, such as unauthorized authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or manipulated peer review.

6. Reporting and Handling of Concerns

Authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, and research participants may report a concern to the Editorial Office, with the article details and supporting evidence where possible. The journal handles each case through these stages:

Reports are handled confidentially and fairly. The journal does not ignore a report, hide it, or delay clarification or action without good reason.

7. Notices and Preservation of the Record

• Every correction, expression of concern, and retraction is published as an open notice that is easy to identify, free to read, and linked to the original article.
• A notice states: the title, authors, and DOI of the article; the type of action; the reasons; who decided; and the date.
• The journal updates the article page, the DOI record (Crossref), and the article metadata to point to the notice.
• A retracted article is not deleted. It stays on the journal's website and in its archive. It is clearly marked as retracted on the article page, on the full-text file (for example with a "RETRACTED" label on each page), and in the metadata.

8. Exceptional Removal

In rare cases the journal may remove the content of an article from public access. This happens only when continued access creates a serious legal, privacy, confidentiality, or safety risk, for example when research participants or vulnerable people can be identified without proper consent. The journal first considers redaction or correction. If content is removed, the bibliographic record and a public notice explaining the removal are kept as far as the law allows.

9. Self-Reported Errors and Cooperation

Authors who find an error in their own published article are asked to inform the Editorial Office promptly. Errors reported and corrected promptly by the authors are handled as corrections. Authors are expected to cooperate with investigations and to respond to the journal's requests without unnecessary delay.

10. Related Policies and Contact

Editorial Office: penamasjurnal@gmail.com