The journal acknowledges that, despite rigorous editorial and peer review processes, errors or inaccuracies may occasionally be found in published articles. To preserve the integrity of academic discourse, the journal adheres to a clear, transparent, and fair procedure for making changes to already published materials, in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Changes to publications are made as promptly as possible while maintaining the historical transparency of the document. 

Corrections to Published Articles

There are three categories of corrections that may be made to articles that have already been published:

Technical corrections are minor changes that do not require a separate public announcement—for example, stylistic updates, clarifications of authors’ names, or formatting adjustments. Such changes are made directly to the electronic version of the article with a corresponding note at the end of the publication.

A public correction is made when errors are identified that do not alter the substance of the conclusions but may mislead readers (e.g., incorrectly labeled tables, outdated data in graphs, errors in numbering or wording). In such cases, a separate “correction note” is published explaining the changes made to the original text of the article, and the article title is marked “Corrected” with a link to the note.

An editorial update occurs when broader explanations or clarifications are needed after publication, for example, due to new data that refines the initial results. The editorial board initiates an editorial update of the article, accompanied by an extended commentary. As in the previous case, this involves the publication of a separate “notice of editorial update” explaining the changes made to the original text of the article, and the title of the article is marked “Corrected” with a link to such a notice. 

Retraction of a Publication

In the event that a published article is found to contain:

- evidence of violations of scientific or research ethics that were not apparent at the time of publication,

- critical errors that undermine the validity of the main conclusions,

- duplication of previously published work (without proper citation or permission),

- a hidden conflict of interest that affected the objectivity of the conclusions, etc., the article is subject to retraction. 

The article retraction procedure involves the submission of a request for retraction by the author, a reviewer, a reader, or a member of the editorial board. Based on the request received, the editorial board investigates the facts stated in the request and determines whether they correspond to reality and comply with the journal’s editorial policy. The decision to retract an article is made collectively by the journal’s editorial board at its meeting. The decision clearly states the reason for the retraction. The retraction notice specifies why the article was retracted and who initiated the process. This notice is attached to the article itself, which remains accessible in the journal’s archive but is clearly marked as “retracted”—the article’s title includes the label “Retracted” with a link to the corresponding notice, and the published version of the article is watermarked with “Retracted”.

Technical Implementation: 

- The article remains available with the label “RETRACTED” in both PDF and HTML versions;

- The DOI remains active and redirects to the retraction notice;

- Information about the retraction is submitted to all databases where the journal is indexed;

- A link to the retraction notice is added to the journal’s archive. 

Timeline: The entire process should not exceed 60 days from the time the issue is identified.

The full text of a retracted article may be removed only in exceptional cases—for example, if there are legal grounds (defamation, copyright infringement, a court ruling). In such situations, bibliographic information remains on the website along with an explanation of the reasons for removal.

The full text of a retracted article may be removed only in exceptional cases—for example, if there are legal grounds (defamation, copyright infringement, a court ruling). In such situations, bibliographic information remains on the website along with an explanation of the reasons for removal. 

REPUBLISHING

Authors retain their copyright while granting the journal the right to first publish the work under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International (CC-BY) license. This allows others to freely distribute the material, provided they attribute the authorship and cite the source of publication.

Authors may also enter into additional non-exclusive agreements regarding the distribution of their article (e.g., placement in a repository or publication in a book), provided that the original publication in this journal is cited.

Posting materials online (in institutional repositories or on personal websites) before or during the review process is not prohibited and is even encouraged, as it promotes a more active exchange of knowledge and increases the citation rate of published works.