Ethics and policies

1. Withdrawal of Manuscripts Under Publication

  • The withdrawal of a manuscript under publication may be decided by the Editor-in-Chief in cases where the manuscript is found to: (i) contain serious errors that affect the conclusions; (ii) be inadvertently submitted as a duplicate of an already published article; or (iii) involve violations of research and publication ethics, such as simultaneous submission to multiple journals, falsification of authorship, plagiarism, data fabrication, or similar misconduct.
  • If a manuscript under publication has already been made available on the Journal’s Online Publishing Management System, its full content (HTML and/or PDF) will be removed and replaced with an HTML and/or PDF page stating: “Article withdrawn: [Article title]”.

2. Retraction of Published Articles

  • Retraction is applied to correct issues arising during submission and publication when authors and/or co-authors violate research and publication ethics, such as duplicate submission, falsified authorship claims, plagiarism, data fabrication, or similar cases.
  • Retraction may be initiated by: (i) the author(s); or (ii) the Editor-in-Chief upon recommendation from members of the scientific community. If a retraction is implemented, the following measures will apply:

a) For the print version: A notice titled “Retracted article: [Article title]” will be published in the next issue and listed in the table of contents.

b) For the online version: A notice page stating “Retracted article: [Article title]” will be displayed, along with a link to the original article (PDF). The original PDF will remain unchanged but will include a watermark on each page stating “Retracted”. The HTML version (if any) will be removed from the system.

3. Removal of Published Articles

  • Removal is applied by the Editor-in-Chief in exceptional cases where: (i) the article clearly violates legal regulations; or (ii) removal is required by a court or other law enforcement authorities.
  • In such cases, the article metadata (title, authors, and affiliations) will remain on the Journal’s Online Publishing Management System, but the full content will be replaced with a notice stating: “This article has been removed for legal reasons.” The Editor-in-Chief will determine the detailed explanation for the removal.

4. Replacement of Published Articles

  • Replacement is applied when a published article may pose serious risks to human health if its content is followed.
  • Replacement is conducted at the request of the original authors and with the approval of the Editor-in-Chief. Authors must submit a written request explaining the need to withdraw the original article and replace it with a revised and updated version.
  • The revised article must undergo the peer-review process.
  • If replacement is implemented, the following measures will apply:

a) For the print version: A notice titled “Retracted article: [Original article title], replaced by: [New article title]” along with the full text of the replacement article will be published in the nearest issue and listed in the table of contents.

b) For the online version: A notice stating “Retracted article: [Original article title], replaced by: [New article title]” will be displayed, along with a link to the revised article (PDF). The first page of the replacement article must include the article history (submission and acceptance dates of both versions) and an explanation of the reason for replacement.

c) The original article (both PDF and HTML versions, if any) will be removed from the Journal’s Online Publishing Management System.

5. Plagiarism check 

The HJEM will conduct an initial screening of manuscripts in terms of format, layout, structure, similarity, and spelling in accordance with the Journal’s requirements.

Note: For similarity checking, the manuscript will be screened using plagiarism detection software.

  • Manuscripts with a similarity index of ≤ 20% will be accepted for further processing;
  • Manuscripts with a similarity index of > 20% will be returned to the author for revision.

Afterward, the Editorial Office will forward the manuscript—after format editing (including layout, formatting, spelling, and similarity/plagiarism check)—to the Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editor-in-Chief for content evaluation and a decision on whether the manuscript will proceed to the peer-review process.