The editors will encourage debate and consider compelling criticism of work published in the journal. The authors of the criticized material will have the opportunity to respond to the allegations made. Studies reporting negative results will not be excluded as they may constitute a starting point for new research. The editors will be open to research that challenges previous published work as this demonstrates the evolution of the quality of the work.

Authors who discover an error in their published article

Authors who discover an error in their published article should contact the journal as soon as possible using the contact details listed on the journal's home page.

In most cases, the corresponding author will be responsible for sharing the details of the error with the journal. The journal editor or a designated representative (such as another member of the editorial team with appropriate subject matter expertise) will review the proposed correction, along with any accompanying data or information. They can submit the proposed correction for further peer review. The Editor of the journal will determine the appropriate mechanism to correct the article. They can also consult with the magazine's editorial team before making a decision.

Article correction

An errata will be published when an error or omission needs to be corrected, but the integrity and conclusions of the article will not be affected by the error.

The errata must be written by the authors. All authors must accept publication. The typo will be linked to the article it corrects.

In rare cases, the editor may need to correct an error made during the publication of an article. When this is the case, the journal will issue an errata to correct the error.

Article withdrawal

Articles in press that represent early versions of articles that have been accepted for publication but have not yet been published in their final form may be withdrawn prior to final publication. Press articles may be withdrawn when:

• They are found to contain errors.
• They are found to be an accidental duplicate of another published article.
• They may have violated the journal's publication policies, for example, multiple submissions, false claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data.
• They represent an initial version of an article that was published due to an editorial or production error.

Article retraction

The retraction of an article by its authors or the journal editor on the advice of members of the academic community has long been an occasional feature of the scientific world. Articles may be retracted to correct errors that affect the findings reported by an article when they are too large in the opinion of the editors to publish a correction, or due to violations of journal policies, such as multiple submissions, false claims of authorship, plagiarism. , fraudulent use of data or similar.

Journal editors or designated representatives will consider retracting an article in which:

• Have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of significant error (e.g., calculation error or experimental error), or as a result of fabrication (e.g., data) or falsification (e.g. image manipulation).
• Constitutes plagiarism.
• The findings have been previously published elsewhere and the authors have not provided appropriate attribution to prior sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (i.e., redundant publication).
• Contains material or data that the authors were not authorized to publish.
• Copyright has been infringed or there is some other serious legal issue (for example, defamation, violation of privacy).
• Reports unethical research and/or violates the journal's editorial ethics policies regarding the conduct of research involving human and/or animal participants.
• There is evidence of compromised peer review or systematic manipulation of the editorial process.
• There is evidence or material concerns that authorship is being sold.
• There is evidence of citation manipulation.
• The authors did not disclose a material competing interest (a conflict of interest) that, in the opinion of the editor, would have materially affected the interpretations of the work or the recommendations of the editors and/or peer reviewers.
• There is evidence of any other breach of the journal's editorial policies and, therefore, the editor has lost confidence in the validity or integrity of the article.

The article will remain in the journal's archive, but with a clear mark indicating that it has been retracted. The article will remain available to read, but will be accompanied by a retraction note with the reasons for the decision.

Deletion of articles: legal limitations

In an extremely limited number of cases, it may be necessary to remove an article from the online archive of the journal where it was published. Given the importance of maintaining the academic record as a permanent and, to the extent possible, unaltered record of academic transactions, deletion of an article is rare and will only occur when it is determined that:

• The article is defamatory or infringes the legal rights of others and retraction is not a sufficient remedy.
• The article is, or the magazine has good reason to expect that it will be, the subject of a court order.
• If acted upon, the item could pose a serious health risk.

In these circumstances, while the metadata (Title and Authors) will be preserved, the article text will be replaced with a screen indicating that the article has been removed for legal reasons.