Retraction & Correction Policies

It is the responsibility of the JCTS's Editorial Board and Publisher to maintain the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record of our content for all end users. After an article has been published online, changes can only be made under the circumstances described below.  It is the policy of the JCTS's Editorial Board and Publisher to place great emphasis on the authority of articles after publication, based on best practices within the academic publishing community. The Erratum is a brief statement by the authors of an original paper in which they describe the correction(s) resulting from any errors or omissions found in the original paper. It is important to note whether or not the changes have affected the conclusions of the paper. An article with a correction is not removed from the online issue of the journal, but rather a notice of erratum is published. Upon publication of the Erratum, the corrected article is linked to the Erratum, which is freely available to all readers. Having a paper retracted means that the paper has been removed from the scientific literature and should not be considered a part of it. The retraction of a study is issued if there is clear evidence to suggest that the findings are unreliable, this can be as a result of misconduct or honest errors; if the findings have been published elsewhere without proper referencing, permission, or justification; if the study has been plagiarized; or if the study reports unethical research. This is done in order to protect the integrity of the record. As such, the retracted article is not removed from the online issue of the journal, but a notice of retraction is given to all readers, and the retracted article is linked to the notice of retraction. The author(s) of a paper can publish a retraction when they discover that there has been a substantial mistake in the study; in other cases, Editor-in-Chief or publisher may decide that a retraction is necessary. A retraction will always state the reason for the action and the person responsible for the decision in all cases. Similarly, if a retraction is made without the unanimous agreement of the authors, that will also be noted in the retraction. A publisher may, in rare and extreme cases, redact or remove an article if an article is found to be infringing on the law. In order to maintain the integrity of the scientific record, bibliographic information about the article will be retained. Publisher's Notes is used to inform readers that a correction to an article has been made after the publication of the article. It is issued by the Publisher and is used in cases where typographical or production errors (which are the fault of the Publisher) affect the integrity of the article metadata (such as title, author list or byline) or will significantly impact the readers' ability to comprehend the article. The original article is removed and replaced with a corrected version. Publisher’s Notes are freely available to all readers. Minor errors that do not affect the integrity of the metadata or a reader's ability to understand an article and that do not involve a scientific error or omission will be corrected at the discretion of the Publisher. In such a case, the original article is removed and replaced with a corrected version. The date the correction is made is noted on the corrected article. Authors should also be aware that an original article can only be removed and replaced with a corrected version less than one year after the original publication date. Corrections to an article which has a publication date that is older than one year will only be documented by a Publisher’s Note. The following guideline may also be helpful: COPE Guidelines for Retracting Articles (https://publicationethics.org/newsevents/cope’s-retraction-guidelines)