Withdrawal Policy
The International Journal of Health Studies (Undergoing change to Shahroud Journal of Medical Sciences) (IJHS (Undergoing change to SJMS)) is to upholding publication ethics while ensuring-quality publications. We expect our authors and users to comply with best practices in publication ethics and to maintain the integrity of their work. Manuscript withdrawal is a standard procedure in publishing for various legitimate reasons; however, it has increasingly become an avenue for unethical practices by some authors. Instances of authors submitting unethical withdrawal requests lead to the wastage of valuable resources, including those of editors, reviewers, and the editorial staff. To address these concerns, IJHS has established a comprehensive withdrawal policy applicable to all manuscript submission and publication stages:
Pre-publication Withdrawal (During Peer Review and Editing Process)
The manuscript withdrawal process during the editorial workflow is divided into two categories: before acceptance and after acceptance.
Manuscript Withdrawal (Before Acceptance)**
- Authors may request the withdrawal of their manuscript after submission but prior to acceptance by providing a compelling reason. Requests for withdrawal received before the peer-review process begins (typically within 3 days of submission) will be considered immediately without requiring justification.
- If the withdrawal request is made after the peer-review process has commenced, the author must provide a compelling ethical reason for the withdrawal. Should any unethical reasons for the withdrawal be identified (even after the manuscript has been withdrawn), appropriate ethical actions may be taken.
- Authors are expected to consider all ethical aspects prior to submission, including approval from co-authors, compliance with institutional/funder policies, simultaneous submissions, plagiarism, and duplicate submissions.
Manuscript Withdrawal (After Acceptance)**
- Once a manuscript is accepted (regardless of whether it is in published galleys or an early version), withdrawal is not permitted. IJHS prohibits authors from withdrawing accepted articles to submit them elsewhere, in order to safeguard valuable editorial and reviewer resources.
- Authors are expected to be familiar with all journal/publishing information available on the official journal homepage and to have obtained agreement from all co-authors before submission.
- Authors should also be aware of their respective institutional or funder policies regarding publication and consult co-authors before submission. Requests for withdrawal based on perceived conflicts between these policies and IJHS's policies will not be accepted after acceptance.
- If accepted manuscripts are later discovered to contain scientific errors, are duplicates of previously published articles, or violate publishing ethics (e.g., multiple submissions, false claims of authorship, plagiarism, reviewer bias, fraudulent data use, or research misconduct), such cases will be addressed according to the corresponding ethical misconduct policy.
Post-publication Withdrawal (After Publication)
IJHS recognizes the imperative of maintaining the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record for researchers and librarians and prioritizes trust in the authority of its digital archive. Typically, the handling editor is solely responsible for deciding the fate of submitted manuscripts. Reviews and editorial recommendations are based on established journal and publisher practices.
Published articles will remain unchanged unless ethical issues arise that justify correction, replacement, retraction, or removal of the article. Actions of this nature are taken very seriously and only under exceptional circumstances, in accordance with best practices in the scholarly publishing community. IJHS commits to adhering to international standards and evolving best practices in this arena.
Guidelines to Avoid Article Withdrawal
To avoid the need for article withdrawal, we advise authors to adhere to the following guidelines:
- The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining consent from all co-authors of the article.
- Prior to submission, the corresponding author should discuss the data provided and resolve any differences of opinion with co-authors.
- Ensure that the selected journal aligns with the scope of the article.
- Check for any necessary permissions or NOCs from the institution prior to submission.
- Conduct a plagiarism check before submission.
- Verify that all data presented in the manuscript are accurate and free of errors.
- Submit the manuscript to only one journal at a time; do not submit to multiple journals simultaneously.
- Confirm that the institution allows the use of materials and resources utilized in the study and that appropriate permissions have been obtained for data and facts sourced from others.
- Decide on the number of authors and their respective roles before submission.
- Ensure that the manuscript version submitted is the final version.
- IJHS editorial team will issue multiple reminders at each stage of the publication process; if authors fail to respond to these reminders, the IJHS reserves the right to withdraw or withhold the article.
Article Retraction
Retraction of an article involves its repudiation by the authors or the editor upon advice from the scholarly community. The IJHS adheres to established standards for managing retractions:
- A retraction notice titled “Retraction: [article title]” will be published in a subsequent issue of the journal and is signed by the authors and/or the editor.
- In the electronic format, a link to the original article will be provided.
- The online version of the article will display a screen containing the retraction notice, which the link will resolve to, allowing readers to access the article itself.
- The original article will remain unchanged except for a watermark on each page of the PDF indicating that it has been “retracted.”
- The HTML version of the document will be detached.
In very rare circumstances, it may be necessary to completely remove an article from the online database. Such removal will only occur if the article is insulting, infringes on others’ legal rights, is subject to a court order, or could lead to significant potential losses if acted upon. In these situations, the metadata (title and authors) will be retained, while the text will be replaced with a notification that the article has been removed for legal reasons.
If the original research paper poses risks of significant losses, the authors may wish to withdraw the flawed original and replace it with a corrected version. In such situations, procedures for retraction will be followed, and the retraction notice will include a link to the corrected version along with a history of the document.
