Corrections and Retractions Policy
The Editorial Board of Cybersecurity: Education, Science, Technique is committed to preserving the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. Concerns about published content are assessed fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Corrections
A correction is issued when an error or omission affects the interpretation, discoverability, or integrity of an article but does not invalidate its principal findings.
- An Author Correction addresses an error introduced by the author or authors.
- A Publisher Correction addresses an error introduced during editorial processing, copy-editing, metadata preparation, or production.
The correction notice will describe the change and its effect on the article's conclusions. It will be openly accessible, assigned its own publication details where appropriate, and linked to the original article. The article will also link to the correction notice.
Minor typographical or formatting errors that do not affect meaning, attribution, indexing, or interpretation may be corrected without a formal notice. Substantive changes will not be made silently.
Expression of Concern
The journal may publish an Expression of Concern when there are serious unresolved doubts about an article, an investigation is incomplete or inconclusive, or a reliable conclusion cannot be reached promptly. The notice will explain the reason for concern without making unsupported allegations and will be linked to the article.
An Expression of Concern may later be replaced or supplemented by a correction, retraction, or statement that the concern has been resolved.
Retraction
An article may be retracted when its findings are unreliable or when serious misconduct or ethical violations materially undermine the publication. Grounds may include:
- fabrication, falsification, or material manipulation of data, images, code, or results;
- plagiarism or substantial unattributed text reuse;
- redundant or duplicate publication;
- invalid or unethical research procedures;
- unauthorised use of data or material;
- unverified or seriously disputed authorship;
- an undisclosed conflict of interest that materially affects the interpretation of the work;
- a major error that invalidates the principal findings;
- compromised or manipulated peer review.
Retraction is intended to correct the scholarly record, not to punish authors.
The retracted article normally remains online to preserve the publication record. It will be clearly marked as retracted, and a freely accessible retraction notice will state the reason, date, and party initiating the retraction. The notice and article will be linked in both directions, and the DOI and bibliographic record will be retained.
Article Removal
Complete removal is considered only in exceptional circumstances, such as a binding legal requirement, a serious privacy violation, material that presents an immediate and substantial security risk, or content whose continued availability would cause serious harm. When removal is necessary, the landing page and bibliographic metadata will be retained where legally and ethically possible, together with an explanation of why the full text is unavailable.
Procedure
Concerns may be raised by authors, readers, reviewers, editors, institutions, or other parties. They should be sent to the Editorial Office with the article citation and available supporting evidence.
The Editorial Office will:
- acknowledge and assess the concern;
- notify the authors when appropriate and invite a response;
- seek advice from reviewers, subject experts, the publisher, or the relevant institution where necessary;
- manage conflicts of interest and maintain confidentiality;
- decide on the appropriate corrective action on the balance of the available evidence;
- communicate and document the outcome.
Where an institutional or legal investigation is required, the journal may await its findings while taking proportionate interim action, including publishing an Expression of Concern.
