Retraction Policy

The Journal of Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence (JITCAI) is committed to maintaining the accuracy, integrity, transparency, and permanence of the scholarly record.

When significant concerns arise regarding a published article, JITCAI will investigate the matter and, when appropriate, issue a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other post-publication notice.

JITCAI does not use retraction as a punishment. Retraction is intended to correct the scholarly record and inform readers when findings or content should no longer be considered reliable.

1. Grounds for Retraction

A published article may be considered for retraction when there is clear evidence of a serious problem that affects the reliability, integrity, or legitimacy of the publication.

Reasons for retraction may include, but are not limited to:

  • Fabrication or falsification of data or results
  • Plagiarism
  • Duplicate or redundant publication without appropriate disclosure
  • Serious errors that invalidate the article's findings or conclusions
  • Manipulation or compromise of the peer-review process
  • Unauthorized use of data, images, figures, or other materials
  • Serious research ethics violations
  • Failure to obtain required ethical approval or informed consent
  • Significant undisclosed conflicts of interest that affect the integrity of the work
  • Fraudulent or materially false author information
  • Authorship manipulation or serious unresolved authorship disputes
  • Evidence that an author or contributor identity was fabricated or misrepresented
  • Copyright infringement
  • Serious legal concerns affecting the publication
  • Other significant violations of JITCAI's publication ethics policies

Retraction decisions will be based on the circumstances and evidence available following an appropriate investigation.

2. Retraction Investigation

Concerns regarding a published article may be raised by authors, readers, reviewers, editors, institutions, research-integrity offices, indexing organizations, Crossref, or other members of the scholarly community.

JITCAI will review credible concerns in a timely manner.

Depending on the nature of the concern, the journal may:

  • Contact the corresponding author and/or other authors for clarification
  • Request supporting documents, data, ethical approvals, or other evidence
  • Consult reviewers, editorial board members, or independent experts
  • Contact an author's institution when appropriate
  • Review plagiarism, authorship, peer-review, or submission records
  • Consult relevant publication ethics guidance
  • Temporarily place an editorial notice or Expression of Concern on the article when an investigation is ongoing

Authors will normally be given an opportunity to respond to allegations before a final decision is made, unless legal, ethical, or other exceptional circumstances prevent this.

Failure of an author to respond does not prevent JITCAI from completing its investigation or taking appropriate action.

3. Retraction Decision

The final decision regarding retraction will normally be made by the Editor-in-Chief, based on the available evidence and, where appropriate, consultation with members of the Editorial Board or other qualified experts.

A retraction may proceed even if one or more authors disagree with the decision.

Where appropriate, the retraction notice may indicate whether the authors agreed or disagreed with the retraction.

Editorial decisions will be based on maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record and will not be influenced by the author's status, institutional affiliation, nationality, payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC), or other unrelated considerations.

4. Retraction Notice

When an article is retracted, JITCAI will publish a clear retraction notice.

The notice should, where appropriate:

  • Identify the retracted article
  • Include the article title and DOI
  • State that the article has been retracted
  • Explain the reason for the retraction
  • Identify who initiated the retraction when appropriate
  • Be linked to the original article
  • Be freely accessible to readers

JITCAI will avoid unnecessarily defamatory or speculative statements in retraction notices and will report the reasons for the retraction as accurately and transparently as reasonably possible.

5. Treatment of the Original Article

A retracted article forms part of the permanent scholarly record.

Therefore, JITCAI will not ordinarily delete the article's DOI or remove its scholarly record simply because the article has been retracted.

The original DOI will remain active and will continue to resolve to an accessible landing page.

The article landing page will clearly indicate that the article has been retracted.

Where technically appropriate, the article PDF and/or HTML version may be clearly marked or watermarked as:

RETRACTED

Readers should be able to determine easily that the article is no longer considered part of the reliable scholarly literature.

6. DOI and Crossref Metadata

JITCAI recognizes that a DOI is a persistent scholarly identifier.

Once a DOI has been assigned to a published article, JITCAI will not create a replacement DOI for the same article merely because the article has been retracted, corrected, or its metadata has changed.

Following a retraction, JITCAI will, as appropriate:

  • Maintain the original DOI and active article landing page
  • Update the article's Crossref metadata to reflect its current status
  • Register and/or deposit appropriate post-publication update information
  • Link the retraction notice to the original article
  • Maintain relationships between the original publication and its correction or retraction records
  • Correct inaccurate bibliographic metadata when necessary

JITCAI will make reasonable efforts to ensure that Crossref and other relevant scholarly services receive accurate information concerning the article's status.

7. Removal of Published Content

Complete removal of a published article is different from retraction and will occur only in exceptional circumstances.

Removal may be considered when continued public availability creates a serious legal, privacy, confidentiality, security, or safety concern, including circumstances such as:

  • A binding legal requirement or court order
  • Serious violation of privacy or confidentiality
  • Publication of sensitive personal information that should not have been disclosed
  • Content that creates a serious and immediate risk of harm
  • Serious copyright or legal restrictions requiring removal

Where removal is necessary, JITCAI will make reasonable efforts to preserve the bibliographic scholarly record.

The DOI should continue to resolve to an active landing page explaining that the content has been removed and, where legally permissible, providing the reason for removal.

The DOI should not intentionally be left to resolve to a 404 or nonexistent page solely because the content has been removed.

8. Corrections

Retraction is not appropriate when an error can be corrected without invalidating the overall findings or integrity of the article.

When a published article contains an error that does not require retraction, JITCAI may publish a formal correction.

Examples may include:

  • Author name or affiliation errors
  • Incorrect figures or tables that do not invalidate the overall findings
  • Production or formatting errors affecting interpretation
  • Errors in data or text that can be corrected without invalidating the article's principal conclusions
  • Important omitted information requiring clarification

Corrections will be linked to the original article, and relevant DOI metadata will be updated where appropriate.

The original DOI assigned to the article will remain unchanged.

9. Expressions of Concern

JITCAI may publish an Expression of Concern when credible concerns exist about an article but:

  • An investigation has not yet been completed
  • Available evidence is inconclusive
  • An institutional investigation is pending
  • The journal cannot obtain sufficient information to reach a final decision
  • Significant concerns require readers to be alerted while further investigation continues

An Expression of Concern does not automatically mean that an article will eventually be retracted.

When the investigation is completed, JITCAI may remove or update the Expression of Concern and issue a correction, retraction, or other appropriate notice.

10. Author-Initiated Retraction Requests

Authors may request retraction of their own published article when they discover a serious error or other issue that materially affects the reliability or integrity of the publication.

An author request does not automatically result in retraction.

JITCAI will evaluate the circumstances and determine the appropriate action based on the integrity of the scholarly record.

If the problem can be adequately addressed through a correction, clarification, or other post-publication update, JITCAI may determine that retraction is unnecessary.

11. Article Processing Charges

Payment or non-payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC) will not determine whether an article should be corrected or retracted.

When a published article requires retraction for legitimate ethical, research-integrity, legal, or scholarly reasons, JITCAI may proceed with the retraction regardless of whether an APC was paid.

Retraction does not automatically entitle an author to an APC refund.

Any refund determination will be governed by JITCAI's current Article Processing Charge (APC) and Refund Policy and the circumstances of the case.

12. Complaints and Appeals

Authors or other affected parties may submit a documented request for reconsideration when they believe a retraction decision was based on a significant factual or procedural error.

An appeal should clearly explain the basis for reconsideration and provide relevant supporting evidence.

An appeal does not automatically reverse or suspend a retraction.

JITCAI will review legitimate appeals in accordance with its editorial and publication ethics procedures.

13. Metadata and Scholarly Record Maintenance

JITCAI is committed to maintaining accurate and current publication metadata.

When a correction, retraction, withdrawal, Expression of Concern, or other significant post-publication update occurs, JITCAI will make reasonable efforts to update the corresponding journal records, DOI metadata, and relevant scholarly metadata services.

The journal will respond to credible concerns regarding inaccurate publication or DOI metadata and correct such information when necessary.

14. Policy Responsibility

This policy is administered by the Journal of Information Technology, Cybersecurity, and Artificial Intelligence (JITCAI) and JITCAI Publication LLC.

The Editor-in-Chief has primary responsibility for overseeing retraction decisions, with consultation from the Editorial Board, institutions, experts, or other appropriate parties when necessary.

JITCAI may revise this policy as Crossref requirements, scholarly publishing standards, and publication ethics guidance evolve.

Last Updated: August 2026