World Nutrition Journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy, integrity, transparency, and reliability of the scientific record. Errors, inaccuracies, ethical concerns, and other issues may occasionally be identified after a manuscript has been submitted, accepted, or published.

This policy establishes the procedures and criteria for the withdrawal of manuscripts and the correction or retraction of published articles. World Nutrition Journal follows recognized standards of publication ethics, including the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and applicable guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

1.      Withdrawal of Manuscripts

1.1.             Withdrawal Before Publication

A manuscript may be withdrawn before publication upon a request from the authors or by a decision of the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board.

Withdrawal may be considered when substantial changes to the manuscript are made or proposed after acceptance, particularly when such changes materially affect the study design, methodology, data, statistical analysis, results, interpretation, or conclusions.

In such circumstances, the revised manuscript may no longer represent the work that was originally submitted, reviewed, and accepted for publication and may therefore require withdrawal and resubmission as a new manuscript, subject to World Nutrition Journal's editorial and peer-review procedures.

Withdrawal may also be considered in cases involving substantial changes to the authorship, research objectives, study population, ethical approval, or other essential aspects of the research that would require substantive reassessment by World Nutrition Journal.

Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript should submit a formal written request to World Nutrition Journal’s editorial staff. The request should state the reason for withdrawal and, where applicable, confirm that all authors agree with the decision.

The Journal may approve withdrawal for legitimate reasons, including:

• discovery of substantial errors in the manuscript that cannot reasonably be corrected
• ethical or regulatory concerns regarding the research
• inability to verify the integrity or authenticity of the data
• accidental or duplication of submission
• other circumstances that make publication inappropriate

World Nutrition Journal reserves the right to refuse withdrawal when the manuscript has already entered an advanced stage of publication or when withdrawal is requested for inappropriate reasons, such as avoiding legitimate editorial or peer-review decisions.

Authors should not withdraw a manuscript solely because they disagree with editorial or peer-review comments.

1.2.             Withdrawal After Acceptance but Before Publication

Requests to withdraw an accepted manuscript will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Editor-in-Chief.

If withdrawal is approved, World Nutrition Journal may record the manuscript as “Withdrawn” in its editorial system. If the manuscript has already been assigned a DOI, published online, or otherwise entered the public record, World Nutrition Journal will follow the appropriate correction, withdrawal, or retraction procedure rather than simply deleting the article.

2.      Corrections of Published Articles

2.1.           When a Correction Is Appropriate

A correction will be considered when an error is identified in a published article, but the error does not invalidate the overall scientific findings, interpretation, or conclusions of the article.

Corrections may be issued for, but are not limited to:

• errors in data presentation;
• typographical or factual errors;
• incorrect author information;
• errors in affiliations;
• errors in tables, figures, or legends;
• incorrect references or citations;
• minor methodological or statistical errors that do not alter the main conclusions;
• errors introduced during the editorial or production process.

Honest errors are a recognized part of scientific publishing and should be corrected when they are identified. Issues that represent scientific disagreement or evolving interpretation, rather than actual errors, generally do not require a correction.

2.2.             Correction Procedure

Requests for correction may be submitted by authors, readers, reviewers, editors, or other individuals with relevant information.

The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor will assess the reported error and determine whether a correction is warranted. Where necessary, World Nutrition Journal may consult the authors, reviewers, statistical experts, or other independent experts before deciding.

When a correction is published:

1. A formal correction notice will be published as soon as reasonably possible.
2. The correction notice will clearly identify the original article and describe the error and its correction.
3. The corrected article will be linked to the correction notice.
4. The correction notice will be linked to the corrected article.
5. The original publication will remain part of the journal’s scholarly record.
6. The date of correction and the nature of the changes will be documented.
7. Previous versions will be retained in accordance with World Nutrition Journal’s archiving and version-control practices.

World Nutrition Journal will avoid making changes to the published scientific record without an appropriate notice explaining the nature and reason for the changes.

This approach is consistent with ICMJE recommendations for version control and correction notices.

3. Retraction of Published Articles

3.1 When Retraction Is Appropriate

Retraction is reserved for circumstances in which a published article is determined to contain information that is sufficiently unreliable or unethical that the article should no longer be considered part of the valid scientific literature.

An article may be considered for retraction when there is substantial evidence of:

• fabrication of data or results;
• falsification or inappropriate manipulation of data, images, or research materials;
• plagiarism;
• duplicate or redundant publication;
• serious ethical violations involving research participants or animals;
• absence or serious inadequacy of required ethical approval or informed consent;
• serious undisclosed conflicts of interest that may have affected the validity or interpretation of the work;
• major methodological or statistical errors that invalidate the results or conclusions;
• serious authorship or publication misconduct that compromises the integrity of the article;
• other circumstances in which the findings or conclusions can no longer be considered reliable.

Retraction may also be considered when an investigation by the authors’ institution, research organization, funder, or another competent authority establishes research misconduct.

ICMJE recommends retraction where errors are serious enough to invalidate a paper’s results and conclusions, and identifies fabrication, falsification, deceptive image manipulation, plagiarism, and certain other forms of misconduct as grounds that may warrant retraction.

3.2 Investigation of Retraction Concerns

When a credible concern regarding a published article is received, World Nutrition Journal Journal will conduct an appropriate preliminary assessment.

Depending on the nature of the concern, World Nutrition Journal may:

• request an explanation or additional information from the authors;
• request the underlying data or research documentation;
• consult independent reviewers or subject-matter experts;
• contact the authors’ institution or relevant research authority;
• contact the ethics committee or other responsible body;
• consult applicable publication-ethics guidance.

If the available evidence is insufficient to reach a final conclusion but serious concerns remain, World Nutrition Journal may publish an Expression of Concern while further investigation is undertaken.

World Nutrition Journal will seek to conduct investigations fairly, objectively, and confidentially, while recognizing its responsibility to protect the integrity of the published scientific record.

3.3 Retraction Notice

A retraction will be accompanied by a clearly labelled Retraction Notice.

The notice should:

• identify the original article by title, authors, citation, and DOI where applicable;
• clearly state that the article has been retracted;
• explain the reason(s) for the retraction;
• distinguish between misconduct, honest error, and other circumstances where appropriate;
• identify whether the retraction was initiated by the authors, the journal itself, or another responsible party;
• provide sufficient information to allow readers to understand the basis for the decision.

The retraction notice will be permanently linked to the original article.

The original article will not normally be removed from World Nutrition Journal’s website or the permanent scholarly record. Instead, the article will remain accessible and will be clearly marked as “Retracted” in the article, abstract, PDF, and other relevant versions. This is consistent with ICMJE guidance that retracted articles should remain in the public domain and be clearly labelled as retracted.

4. Retraction with Republication

In exceptional circumstances, an article may contain a major but unintentional error that substantially changes its results or conclusions while the underlying research remains valid.

In such cases, the Journal may consider retraction with republication (replacement) rather than simple retraction, provided that:

• the error was unintentional;
• the underlying research remains fundamentally valid;
• the corrected article undergoes appropriate editorial and/or peer review;
• the changes are transparently documented; and
• republication is considered to provide greater benefit to the scientific record than leaving the article retracted.

The retraction notice should clearly explain the reason for the retraction and republication, and the relationship between the original and corrected versions should be transparent.

5. Author Responsibility and Agreement

Authors are encouraged to notify World Nutrition Journal editorial staff promptly if they discover an error or ethical concern affecting their published article.

World Nutrition Journal may proceed with a correction, Expression of Concern, or retraction even if the authors do not agree with the editorial decision, when the available evidence supports such action.

Where possible, World Nutrition Journal will seek the views of all authors before issuing a correction or retraction. However, disagreement by one or more authors will not prevent World Nutrition Journal from correcting or retracting an article when necessary to protect the integrity of the scientific record.

6. Editorial Independence

Decisions regarding corrections, withdrawals, Expressions of Concern, and retractions will be based on the integrity, accuracy, and reliability of the scientific record and will not be influenced by commercial interests, financial considerations, citation metrics, institutional pressure, or potential effects on the journal’s reputation.

The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board retain editorial authority to make decisions concerning the published content of World Nutrition Journal.

8. Record Keeping and Transparency

World Nutrition Journal will maintain appropriate records of decisions concerning manuscript withdrawal, corrections, Expressions of Concern, and retractions.

Where an article is corrected or retracted, appropriate notices and links will be provided to facilitate accurate indexing and citation.

World Nutrition Journal will make reasonable efforts to ensure that correction and retraction information is communicated to relevant indexing and abstracting services where applicable.

9. Appeals

Authors may appeal a decision concerning correction, withdrawal, or retraction by submitting a written explanation to the Editor-in-Chief.

An appeal should provide new evidence or a substantive argument that the decision was based on an error or incomplete information. The Editor-in-Chief may seek advice from independent experts or members of the Editorial Board.

The decision following an appeal will normally be final, subject to applicable institutional, legal, or publication-ethics procedures.

10. Policy Review

This policy will be reviewed periodically by the Editorial Board and updated when necessary to reflect developments in publication ethics, medical publishing standards, and guidance from organizations such as ICMJE and COPE.