Qubahan Engineering Journal (QENGJ) is committed to maintaining an accurate, reliable, transparent, and trustworthy scholarly record.

When significant errors or integrity concerns are identified after publication, the journal will take appropriate action in accordance with recognized scholarly publishing standards.

Corrections

A correction may be issued when an error affects the accuracy, interpretation, attribution, or understanding of a published article but does not invalidate its principal findings.

Corrections may be appropriate for:

• Significant factual errors;

• Incorrect author information;

• Errors in tables or figures;

• Incorrect numerical values;

• Important omissions;

• Production errors;

• Incorrect affiliations;

• Errors in acknowledgments or funding statements; or

• Other mistakes requiring amendment of the scholarly record.

A correction notice should:

• Clearly identify the affected article;

• Explain the nature of the correction;

• State who initiated the correction where appropriate; and

• Be permanently linked to the original article.

Where technically possible, the article itself should also be clearly linked to the correction notice.

Retractions

Retraction may be considered when reliable evidence indicates that a published article is seriously unreliable or involves a major violation of research or publication integrity.

Possible reasons include:

• Fabricated data;

• Falsified data;

• Serious plagiarism;

• Major duplicate or redundant publication;

• Manipulated peer review;

• Serious ethical violations;

• Unauthorized publication;

• Significant copyright infringement;

• Manipulation of images or research records;

• Fundamental errors that invalidate the principal conclusions; or

• Other serious misconduct affecting the reliability of the article.

Retraction Notice

A retracted article should remain part of the scholarly record.

The article should be clearly identified as retracted and permanently linked to a retraction notice.

The retraction notice should:

• Identify the retracted article;

• Explain the reason for retraction;

• Identify who initiated the retraction where appropriate;

• Distinguish honest error from misconduct where this can be established; and

• Remain freely accessible.

Retraction is intended to correct the scholarly record rather than punish authors.

Expressions of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be published when substantial concerns exist about a publication but there is not yet sufficient evidence for a definitive editorial action.

This may occur when:

• An investigation is incomplete;

• Available evidence is inconclusive;

• An institutional investigation is pending;

• Authors or institutions have not provided necessary information;

• Serious concerns remain unresolved; or

• Readers should be alerted while further assessment continues.

The Expression of Concern should be linked to the affected article.

Article Removal

Complete removal of a published article should be extremely rare.

Removal may be considered only in exceptional circumstances involving serious:

• Legal concerns;

• Privacy violations;

• Confidentiality breaches;

• Security risks;

• Defamatory material; or

• Immediate threats to public safety.

Where an article is removed, a public notice should normally remain explaining why the content is unavailable.

Author-Initiated Corrections

Authors are responsible for notifying QENGJ promptly when they discover a significant error in their published article.

Authors must cooperate with reasonable post-publication investigations and corrective actions.

Editorial Assessment

Decisions regarding corrections, retractions, and Expressions of Concern are made on the basis of:

• Available evidence;

• Reliability of the published record;

• Research integrity;

• Fairness;

• Transparency; and

• Protection of readers and the scholarly literature.

Where appropriate, the journal may consult authors, reviewers, institutions, ethics committees, publishers, legal advisers, or independent subject specialists.

Preservation of the Scholarly Record

QENGJ does not silently remove or materially alter published scholarly content.

All significant post-publication changes should be documented transparently and permanently linked to the relevant article.