Article Retraction & Withdrawal

Article Retraction, Withdrawal, Removal, and Replacement Policy

Editorial Responsibility

In accordance with the principles of scholarly publishing, the Editor-in-Chief holds sole and independent responsibility for determining which submitted articles are accepted for publication, based on the journal’s editorial policies and ethical standards. This responsibility includes adherence to legal considerations related to defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Published articles constitute part of the permanent scholarly record and should remain accessible, accurate, and unaltered whenever possible. However, under exceptional circumstances, a published article may need to be retracted, withdrawn, removed, or replaced. These actions are taken seriously and only executed in alignment with best practices established by the academic and publishing communities.

The editorial team at Mysterium Fidei will retain records of all article versions, including those marked as retracted, withdrawn, or removed, to ensure transparency and accountability.

 

Article Retraction

Articles may be retracted due to:

• Proven scientific error
• Multiple or duplicate submissions
• Plagiarism
• Fraudulent authorship claims
• Falsified or manipulated data

Retraction requires a signed statement from the corresponding author, with agreement from all co-authors. A formal notice of retraction will be published, clearly stating:

• The reason for retraction
• The responsible parties
• A direct link to the original article (which remains accessible but marked “Retracted” on every page)

The retraction notice will also appear in the table of contents of the respective issue.

 

Article Withdrawal

Article withdrawal is strongly discouraged and permitted only under exceptional conditions, such as:

• Early versions of accepted articles with serious errors
• Duplicate online posting
• Violation of publication ethics (e.g., plagiarism, unethical data use)

If the article has not yet been officially published (i.e., assigned to an issue), and its continued availability may pose a risk (ethical/legal), the editorial board may withdraw it. The article’s content (PDF and HTML) will be replaced by a withdrawal notice, including a link to this policy.

Note: Having copyright ownership does not entitle the author to withdraw an article after publication. The integrity of the scholarly record takes precedence.

 

Article Removal

Removal is considered only in extremely rare and serious cases, such as when:

• The article is defamatory or violates the legal rights of others
• A court order mandates its removal
• The content presents a serious and proven risk to public health or safety

In such cases, the article’s metadata (title, authorship, etc.) will be retained, but the text will be replaced with a legal removal notice stating the reason.

 

Article Replacement

In cases where an article contains errors that, if applied, may cause harm (e.g., health-related misinformation), the author(s) may request a replacement.

The original article will be retracted and replaced with a corrected version, which:

• Includes a clear statement indicating it is a corrected and republished version
• Retains a link to the retraction notice
• Details the changes made in the version history

 

Continuous Policy Development

This policy is informed by best practices from the academic community and global publishing standards, including those promoted by COPE and professional library associations. We are committed to updating and improving these policies as standards evolve, and we welcome input from authors, reviewers, librarians, and academic partners.