Retraction and Correction Policy

Overview & Commitment to Integrity

International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership (IJEAMaL) is dedicated to maintaining the absolute accuracy, integrity, and credibility of the scientific record. When errors, ethical violations, or scientific misconduct are detected post-publication, International Journal of Educational Administration, Management, and Leadership (IJEAMaL) follows the principles and procedural flowcharts established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to issue formal corrections, expressions of concern, or retractions.

1. Manuscript Corrections (Erratum & Corrigendum)

A formal correction notice will be published when an article contains inadvertent errors that do not compromise the fundamental findings, statistical conclusions, or theoretical validity of the research.

Types of Corrections:

  • Erratum: Issued for errors introduced during the journal's editing or production phase (e.g., misprinted numbers, missing citations, layout errors).
  • Corrigendum: Issued for minor mistakes made by the authors (e.g., author affiliation updates, missing acknowledgments, or minor analytical typos).

Implementation: The correction is published as a distinct, indexed notice linked directly to the original PDF/HTML article. The original document remains publicly accessible with a permanent link to the correction note.

2. Retractions

A formal retraction is an exceptional editorial measure used to alert the academic community when the core findings of a published paper are rendered unreliable or unethical.

Grounds for Retraction Include:

  • Academic Misconduct: Confirmed instances of data fabrication, data falsification, or severe plagiarism (exceeding allowable similarity thresholds).
  • Duplicate Submission/Publication: Redundant publishing of the same study across multiple journals without disclosure.
  • Methodological Invalidation: Major theoretical or empirical errors that undermine the study’s primary conclusions.
  • Ethical Violations: Failure to comply with data privacy regulations, unapproved research practices, or undisclosed major conflicts of interest.

Retraction Protocol:

  1. A formal "Retraction Notice" explaining the specific rationale and signed by the Editor-in-Chief will be published and linked to the paper.
  2. The original article PDF/HTML will remain online in the journal archives to preserve the historic record, but will be clearly watermarked as "RETRACTED" on every page.

3. Expressions of Concern

In situations where serious allegations of research misconduct or data manipulation arise, but conclusive evidence or an institutional investigation is still pending, the Editorial Board may publish an Expression of Concern. This notice alerts readers and indexing databases to potential issues while an official inquiry is conducted.

4. Editorial Responsibilities & Transparency

  • Decision Authority: All final editorial actions regarding corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern are determined by the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board in consultation with independent reviewers, institutional ethics boards, or the publisher.
  • Metadata & Indexing Updates: All notices of correction or retraction are published open access, assigned a unique DOI, and transmitted to indexing databases (e.g., Crossref, Google Scholar, DOAJ) to ensure the scientific record is updated globally.