R-C-W Policy

Fokus Bisnis: Media Pengkajian Manajemen dan Akuntansi (FOKBIS) is committed to maintaining the accuracy, reliability, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. In certain circumstances, a manuscript or published article may require withdrawal, correction, expression of concern, retraction, removal, or replacement.

Such actions are not undertaken lightly. Editorial action is determined according to the nature and seriousness of the issue, the reliability of the published record, the available evidence, and applicable publication-ethics principles.

FOKBIS follows relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Retraction Guidelines when considering retractions and related actions affecting the scholarly record.

Protecting the Scholarly Record

The primary purpose of corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions is to maintain the reliability and integrity of the scholarly record. Retraction is intended to correct the literature when published findings cannot be relied upon; it is not intended as a punishment for authors.

Article Retraction

Retraction may be considered when there is sufficient evidence that a published article contains serious problems that make its findings, conclusions, or publication record unreliable.

Circumstances that may warrant retraction include, but are not limited to:

  • clear evidence that findings or conclusions are unreliable because of major error, miscalculation, data problems, or research misconduct;
  • fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate manipulation of data, results, images, analyses, or research records;
  • plagiarism or substantial unattributed use of another person's work;
  • redundant or duplicate publication without appropriate disclosure, justification, or cross-reference;
  • research conducted or reported in serious violation of applicable ethical requirements;
  • compromised or manipulated peer review;
  • serious authorship or identity manipulation;
  • unauthorized use of data or material; or
  • an undisclosed conflict of interest that substantially undermines confidence in the interpretation or integrity of the article.

Retraction Procedure

When a potential reason for retraction is identified, the editorial team will assess the concern and may request explanations, supporting data, documentation, or other relevant information from the author(s) and, where appropriate, other parties.

Authors should be given an appropriate opportunity to respond to substantive concerns. Where an investigation by an institution, funder, ethics committee, or another competent body is relevant, FOKBIS may consider the findings of that investigation before reaching a final decision.

The final decision to retract an article rests with the journal's responsible editor, subject to appropriate management of conflicts of interest and the journal's publication-ethics procedures.

Retraction Notice

When an article is retracted, FOKBIS will publish a clearly identifiable retraction notice. The notice should:

  • clearly identify the article being retracted;
  • be linked electronically to the affected article wherever practicable;
  • state the reason for the retraction with appropriate factual clarity;
  • identify who is retracting the article;
  • distinguish, where reasonably possible, between honest error and misconduct;
  • be freely accessible to readers; and
  • avoid unnecessarily inflammatory, accusatory, or defamatory language.

The original article should ordinarily remain identifiable as part of the scholarly record and be clearly marked as Retracted, rather than being silently deleted from the journal website.

Expression of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when the journal becomes aware of a potentially serious problem affecting a published article but the available evidence is not yet sufficient to justify a correction or retraction.

This may occur, for example, when:

  • an investigation into suspected misconduct or unreliable findings is ongoing;
  • available evidence is inconclusive;
  • an institutional investigation is substantially delayed;
  • the journal has reasonable concerns about the reliability of an article but cannot yet reach a definitive conclusion; or
  • additional information is required from authors or other relevant parties.

An Expression of Concern is intended to alert readers while a matter remains unresolved. It should be linked to the affected article and may subsequently be replaced or supplemented by a correction, retraction, or other appropriate notice when the matter is resolved.

Article Correction

A correction may be issued when an otherwise reliable published article contains an error or omission that affects the accuracy, interpretation, attribution, or scholarly record but does not invalidate the article's principal findings or conclusions.

Corrections may address matters such as:

  • errors in data presentation, tables, figures, calculations, or text;
  • production or typesetting errors introduced during publication;
  • incorrect or incomplete author or contributor information;
  • incorrect affiliations or acknowledgements;
  • important citation or attribution errors; or
  • other errors requiring a transparent amendment to the Version of Record.

Types of Correction

Depending on the source and nature of the error, FOKBIS may issue an appropriate correction notice, including:

  • Author Correction (Corrigendum) — for an important error originating from the author(s);
  • Publisher Correction (Erratum) — for an important error introduced during editorial processing, copyediting, typesetting, layout, or publication; or
  • Addendum — when additional information is necessary to clarify or supplement the published record without replacing the original article.

Minor typographical or formatting errors that do not affect meaning, interpretation, attribution, or the integrity of the scholarly record may not require a formal correction notice.

Version of Record

FOKBIS does not normally make undisclosed substantive changes to a published Version of Record. When a significant post-publication change is necessary, the change should be documented transparently through an appropriate correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other publication notice.

Manuscript Withdrawal

Authors may request withdrawal of a manuscript before publication when there is a legitimate reason to discontinue consideration. Withdrawal should not be used to circumvent the editorial process, simultaneous-submission rules, peer review, or publication-ethics procedures.

A withdrawal request should be submitted formally by the corresponding author through the journal's official communication channel and should include:

  • the manuscript title and submission identification number;
  • a clear reason for requesting withdrawal; and
  • confirmation that all authors are aware of and agree with the withdrawal request.

The journal may request additional confirmation when necessary. A manuscript should not be regarded as formally withdrawn until the editorial office confirms the withdrawal.

Withdrawal After Acceptance

Requests submitted after formal acceptance require particular consideration because substantial editorial and peer-review resources may already have been invested and the manuscript may have entered the production process.

Such requests must provide a clear and legitimate reason and remain subject to editorial assessment. Withdrawal after acceptance must not be used to move an accepted manuscript to another journal while disregarding commitments already made to FOKBIS.

FOKBIS does not impose a financial penalty solely for requesting manuscript withdrawal. However, unethical conduct associated with withdrawal, including undisclosed simultaneous submission or other publication misconduct, may be addressed under the journal's Publication Ethics policy.

Published Articles

Once an article has been formally published, a request to remove it is not treated as ordinary manuscript withdrawal. Concerns affecting a published article are handled through correction, expression of concern, retraction, removal, or another appropriate mechanism for maintaining the scholarly record.

Article Removal

Removal of a published article is reserved for exceptional circumstances. Retraction, rather than removal, is ordinarily the appropriate mechanism when the reliability or integrity of an article is seriously compromised.

Removal may be considered when continued public availability of the article creates a serious legal, privacy, confidentiality, safety, or other compelling risk that cannot reasonably be addressed through retraction or correction.

Where removal is necessary, FOKBIS will seek to preserve sufficient bibliographic information to maintain transparency regarding the existence and status of the scholarly record, unless legal or other overriding requirements prevent this.

Article Replacement

Article replacement is expected to be rare. When a published article contains a serious problem but a corrected version is necessary to preserve an important and reliable scholarly contribution, the journal may consider retraction and replacement where this is more appropriate than an ordinary correction.

In such cases, the publication history should remain transparent. The retraction notice should identify and link to the replacement article, and the replacement should clearly indicate its relationship to the original Version of Record.

Editorial Assessment and Decision

Decisions concerning corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, removals, and replacements are made on the basis of the available evidence, the seriousness of the issue, its effect on the reliability of the scholarly record, and relevant publication-ethics guidance.

The journal may consult authors, reviewers, Editorial Board members, institutions, funders, ethics committees, legal advisers, or other appropriate parties when their input is necessary to reach a responsible decision.

Where an editor has a conflict of interest concerning the article or individuals involved, the matter should be handled by another qualified editor who is not affected by that conflict.

Copyright and Retraction

Authors retain copyright in articles published by FOKBIS; however, copyright ownership does not provide an automatic right to remove or retract an article after publication. Once an article becomes part of the scholarly record, post-publication action must consider the integrity and transparency of that record as well as the journal's applicable publication policies.

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