Corrections, Retractions, and Withdrawals

Corrections, Retractions, Withdrawals, Removals, and Replacements Policy

1. Purpose and Principles

Atom Indonesia is committed to maintaining an accurate, reliable, transparent, and permanent scholarly record. When a published article requires editorial action, Atom Indonesia will issue an appropriate notice or take other necessary action in accordance with the nature and seriousness of the issue.

Atom Indonesia does not silently alter the Version of Record. Decisions under this policy aim to correct the scholarly record and protect readers, rather than punish authors.

The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor without a relevant conflict of interest is responsible for editorial decisions under this policy. The journal may consult independent experts, the publisher, authors' institutions, research funders, or other competent bodies where appropriate. Editorial decisions must remain independent of commercial or other inappropriate influence.

Atom Indonesia follows relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

2. Reporting and Assessment

Authors who identify errors in their published articles must notify Atom Indonesia promptly. Readers, reviewers, institutions, and other parties may also report concerns.

Reports should be submitted to:

Email: atomindonesia@brin.go.id

Recommended subject: Post-Publication Concern – [Title of the Article]

Reports should identify the article, describe the concern, and provide supporting evidence where available.

The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor without a relevant conflict of interest will assess the matter. The assessment may include examining the article and supporting materials, requesting original data or documentation, consulting authors and independent experts, and considering relevant institutional or regulatory findings.

Persons directly concerned will normally be given a reasonable opportunity to respond. Failure to respond does not prevent Atom Indonesia from acting on the available evidence.

Atom Indonesia will seek agreement from the authors where appropriate, but unanimous author agreement is not required when editorial action is necessary to protect the scholarly record. Suspected research or publication misconduct will also be handled under Atom Indonesia's Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct Policy.

3. Corrections

Atom Indonesia will issue a Correction when an error or omission affects the accuracy, clarity, attribution, interpretation, or reproducibility of an article but does not invalidate its principal findings and conclusions.

Examples include errors in:

  • Data values, figures, tables, or calculations;
  • Methods or descriptions of research procedures;
  • References or citations;
  • Author, affiliation, or contributor information;
  • Funding statements or acknowledgements; and
  • Competing-interest disclosures.

Minor typographical, grammatical, or formatting errors that do not affect meaning, attribution, interpretation, or indexing may be corrected administratively without a separate notice.

A Correction notice will normally:

  • Be titled Correction: [Title of the Original Article];
  • Identify the original article and describe the error and corrected information;
  • Explain the effect of the correction on the article's interpretation or conclusions;
  • Identify the issuing party and the source of the error where established;
  • Be openly accessible and linked to the original article; and
  • Receive its own publication metadata and DOI where available.

The authors will normally be consulted on the wording. Atom Indonesia retains final editorial responsibility for the notice.

The Version of Record will not be silently replaced. Any updated online article or supplementary file must clearly identify and date the change and link to the Correction. Changes to authorship will also follow Atom Indonesia's Authorship and Contributorship Policy.

If the error cannot be adequately corrected or renders the principal findings unreliable, Atom Indonesia will consider retraction.

4. Expressions of Concern

Atom Indonesia may publish an Expression of Concern when a serious question about the reliability or integrity of an article remains unresolved and the available evidence is insufficient for a final decision on Correction or Retraction.

This may apply when:

  • An investigation is ongoing or significantly delayed;
  • Institutional findings are inconclusive;
  • Essential data cannot be verified; or
  • Conflicting evidence prevents a reliable determination.

An Expression of Concern is a cautionary notice and does not, by itself, constitute a finding of misconduct.

The notice will identify the article, describe the concern as clearly as confidentiality and legal considerations permit, and be openly accessible and permanently linked to the article.

When the matter is resolved, Atom Indonesia will publish an appropriate outcome notice, such as a Correction, Retraction, or other editorial statement. The original notice will remain part of the publication history.

5. Withdrawals

For this policy, Withdrawal refers to the removal from public access of an early version of an accepted article that has been made publicly available but has not yet been published as the final Version of Record.

Withdrawal may be considered when the early version was made public prematurely, duplicated another version because of an editorial or production error, or was published as an incorrect or incomplete file due to a technical failure.

The withdrawn content may be replaced with a Withdrawal notice explaining the reason. Bibliographic metadata and publication history will be retained where appropriate.

If a publicly accessible early version contains unreliable findings, plagiarism, unethical research, or another serious publication ethics breach, Atom Indonesia will normally consider Retraction rather than Withdrawal to preserve transparency.

Withdrawal of an unpublished manuscript during submission or peer review is handled under Atom Indonesia's submission procedures and does not normally require a public Withdrawal notice.

6. Retractions

6.1. Grounds for Retraction

Atom Indonesia will consider retraction when there is sufficient evidence that an article's findings, conclusions, or integrity can no longer be relied upon and the problem cannot be adequately resolved through a Correction.

Grounds may include:

  • Major errors, miscalculations, unreliable methods, fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation of data or images;
  • Plagiarism or substantial unattributed overlap;
  • Substantial duplicate publication without adequate disclosure, attribution, permission, or justification;
  • Unauthorized use of data, images, or other material, or serious legal violations;
  • Research conducted without required ethical approval or in serious violation of accepted ethical standards;
  • Compromised or systematically manipulated peer review or editorial processes;
  • Fictitious or fraudulent authorship, paper-mill involvement, or other serious submission fraud;
  • Serious citation manipulation that materially undermines the integrity of the work;
  • An undisclosed competing interest that materially affected the research, interpretation, review, or editorial decision; or
  • Another serious breach of publication ethics that undermines confidence in the article's reliability or integrity.

Undisclosed or prohibited use of artificial intelligence may warrant retraction when the circumstances materially undermine the reliability or integrity of the work.

Retraction will not normally be based solely on:

  • An authorship dispute;
  • A change in the authors' opinions;
  • A minor correctable error;
  • Disagreement with the article's conclusions; or
  • An unsubstantiated allegation.

If only a limited part of an article is affected and the remainder remains reliable, Atom Indonesia may issue a clearly scoped Correction. Atom Indonesia does not use partial retraction.

6.2. Retraction Procedure

Before retracting an article, Atom Indonesia will ordinarily inform the authors of the concerns, provide a reasonable opportunity to respond, assess the available evidence, and consult independent experts or relevant institutions where necessary.

Atom Indonesia may proceed without the authors' agreement. It may also act before an institutional investigation is completed when the available evidence is sufficiently clear or delay would expose readers to significant risk.

If serious concerns remain unresolved and the evidence is inconclusive, an Expression of Concern may be appropriate. Retractions should be issued promptly once the editor has sufficient grounds for the decision.

6.3. Retraction Notice

A Retraction notice will normally:

  • Be titled Retraction: [Title of the Original Article];
  • Clearly identify and link to the retracted article;
  • State who is retracting the article;
  • Explain the reasons in clear, objective, and non-defamatory language;
  • Distinguish honest error from misconduct where the evidence permits;
  • Identify responsible parties only when established through a fair and reliable process;
  • Be openly accessible and receive its own publication metadata and DOI where available; and
  • Be included in the journal's table of contents and linked to the original article.

The original article will normally remain accessible as part of the scholarly record. Its landing page and full-text versions must be clearly marked as retracted, with a prominent notice or watermark on the PDF and links to the Retraction notice.

7. Removals, Replacements, and Preservation

7.1. Removals

Removal means that the full text of an article is no longer publicly accessible. Because removal limits access to the scholarly record, it will be considered only in exceptional circumstances when retraction or another less restrictive measure is insufficient.

Grounds may include:

  • A binding legal requirement;
  • Serious infringement of privacy or other legal rights;
  • Unlawfully disclosed confidential information that cannot be adequately redacted; or
  • A serious and immediate risk to health, safety, or the public.

Removal will not normally be used solely because an article contains errors, unreliable findings, misconduct, controversy, or reputational concerns.

Where removal is necessary, Atom Indonesia will retain bibliographic metadata and replace the full text with a Removal notice, unless prohibited by law. The notice will explain the reason to the extent legally and ethically possible. An archival copy will be preserved where lawful and appropriate.

7.2. Replacements

Replacement is reserved for exceptional circumstances in which an article presents a serious risk to health or safety, the unreliable version must be withdrawn from use, and a corrected version is necessary to prevent harm or provide essential accurate information.

Replacement will not be used merely to rewrite, update, or improve an article at the authors' request.

When replacement is approved:

  • The original article will be retracted and, where necessary, removed;
  • The relevant notice will explain that a replacement has been published;
  • The replacement will undergo appropriate editorial assessment and independent peer review where necessary;
  • The replacement will receive its own publication metadata and DOI where available;
  • Links will connect the original article, the relevant notice, and the replacement; and
  • The complete publication history will remain transparent.

7.3. Transparency and Preservation

All notices under this policy will be dated, openly accessible, clearly identified, and linked to the affected article and related notices. Atom Indonesia will provide appropriate metadata and deposit notices with Crossref and communicate article status to indexing and preservation services where technically possible.

Atom Indonesia will use Crossmark or another available mechanism to indicate the current status of an article. Corrections, Expressions of Concern, Retractions, Withdrawals, Removals, and Replacements will not be concealed behind access restrictions.

8. Reconsideration and Related Policies

Authors or other directly affected parties may request reconsideration when substantial new evidence becomes available, a significant procedural error may have affected the decision, or a relevant conflict of interest was not identified.

Requests must state the grounds and provide supporting evidence. Mere disagreement with an editorial decision is insufficient.

Where practicable, reconsideration will be handled by an editor or qualified person who was not responsible for the original decision and has no relevant competing interest. Existing notices and article markings will normally remain in place during reconsideration.

This policy should be read together with Atom Indonesia's policies on:

  • Publication Ethics;
  • Allegations of Research and Publication Misconduct;
  • Post-Publication Discussions;
  • Complaints and Appeals;
  • Authorship and Contributorship;
  • Conflicts of Interest;
  • Artificial Intelligence; and
  • Plagiarism Screening.

Atom Indonesia will periodically review this policy to maintain consistency with COPE guidance, developments in scholarly communication, applicable law, and institutional requirements.