Retraction policy

The editors consider the retraction of the article as a mechanism to prevent misleading the readers of the scientific article, which can lead to negative consequences from the use of published results or the impossibility of their reproduction due to accidental or intentional errors, falsification of data or their fabrications (falsification of experimental data); biased display of authorship preventing conflicts of interest or research misconduct discovered after publication.

The decision to withdraw a published article is applied on a case-by-case basis, and does not depend on whether such a consequence is a deliberate position of the author or an honest error. The facts of violation of ethical norms are considered by the editorial board, regardless of the age of the publication.

According to the official policy of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE, when considering the issue of the feasibility of retracting an article, the editorial board uses the following:

The main purpose of a retraction is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity, not to punish the author(s).

Retractions may be used to alert readers to instances of redundant publication, plagiarism, peer review manipulation, unauthorized reuse of material or data, copyright infringement, or otherwise.

Rationale for withdrawal the article:

• detection of academic plagiarism (illegal borrowings) in the publication;
• detection of self-plagiarism in a publication (publication of scientific research results that have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor permission to republish, or justification, ie, cases of redundant publication);
• detection of duplication of an article in several publications or simultaneous submission of the same article in several different journals;
• the presence of clear evidence that there are serious errors in the work, distortion or falsification of facts, deliberate drawing of conclusions that cannot be relied upon;
• the presence of clear evidence that the article includes research results or accompanying materials (illustrations, tables, appendices, etc.) for which the author(s) of the article do not have the copyright and do not have the appropriate permission from the copyright holders;
• hidden conflict of interests;
• other violations of the publication's ethical principles.

Reasons for initiating the article retraction process may be:

• the author's request to withdraw the published article;
• referral of third parties with evidence of violations of scientific and legal ethics by the author of the published article;
• discovery by the editorial board of the journal of facts of violation of scientific and legal ethics by the authors of the published article.

 

Retraction mechanism and algorithm

The following subjects can launch the retraction (withdrawal) mechanism for an article:

• the authors of the article who sent a reasoned appeal in writing to the editor-in-chief of the journal "Annals of Mechnikov Institute" (more details);
• the editors of any journal, which sends a justified request to the editors of the journal " Annals of Mechnikov Institute ";
• readers, having addressed in writing to the editors of the journal " Annals of Mechnikov Institute " and indicating a suspicion, necessarily with available evidence of violations of scientific and legal ethics by the author of the published article;
• the editor-in-chief of the journal " Annals of Mechnikov Institute ", who applies with a reasoned submission, which substantiates the reasons for withdrawing a scientific article;
• participants in a conflict of interest and other subjects who turn to the editors of the journal " Annals of Mechnikov Institute " with evidence of violation of scientific, legal and publishing ethics.

Retraction policy

Retraction algorithm

1. The appeal of the subject who initiates the retraction is considered by the Academic Integrity Promotion Group of the SI “I. Mechnikov institute of microbiology and immunology of the NAMS of Ukraine”, if the appeal meets the formal requirements, a special commission is created, which familiarizes itself with the evidence base, carefully checks the provided evidence, comprehensively and impartially studies the case.
2. When considering the issue of the expediency of withdrawing an article, the commission uses the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE. If plagiarism, self-plagiarism or duplication of an article is detected, a link to the original source must be provided.
3. The chairman of the commission reports the results of the review at the meeting of the editorial board of the journal, which makes a decision on the expediency of withdrawing the article and bringing this issue to the meeting of the Academic Council of the SI “I. Mechnikov institute of microbiology and immunology of the NAMS of Ukraine”, by which the final decision is made.
4. If the Scientific Council makes a final decision on the retraction of a scientific article, the Journal Editor:
   a) sends information about the withdrawal of a scientific article to the scientific metric databases in which the journal is indexed;
   b) notifies the author (principal contact for editorial correspondence in the case of collective authorship) of the retraction of the article with justification of the reasons;
   c) in the next issue of the journal, it prints information about the retraction of the article, in which it notes: reasons and grounds for retraction, so that readers can understand why the article is unreliable, as well as who retracts the article;
   d) on the website, in compliance with the norms of correctness, corrects the archive number of the journal in which the article was published, where: the title of the article and the author(s) remain with the mark "article retracted" and publishes who retracts the article, the reason and grounds for the retraction.