Correction and Retraction

An article published by Jurnal Syntax is a permanent part of the scholarly record. It is therefore never altered, replaced, or deleted after publication. Where the record must be put right, the journal does so through a separate, dated, citable notice that is permanently linked to the original article. This page sets out the instruments the journal uses, the grounds on which each is issued, who may request one, and the procedure and timeline that apply.

1. Governing Principle: No Silent Changes

The version of record is immutableOnce an article has been assigned a DOI and published in an issue, its text, figures, tables, author list, and PDF galley are fixed. The journal does not accept requests to “re-upload a corrected file”, to amend a sentence quietly, or to withdraw an article from the website. Every change to the record is visible, dated, attributable, and citable.

2. Instruments Available to the Journal

Corrigendum — error by the author

Used when a verified error introduced by the author affects part of the article but not its overall conclusions: a mistaken value in a table, a mislabelled axis, an incorrect equation, a wrong citation, a missing funding or conflict-of-interest declaration, or an error in an author's name or affiliation.

Effect: the article remains valid and fully usable. The corrigendum states precisely what was wrong and what the correct information is.

Erratum — error by the journal

Used when the error was introduced during editing, typesetting, galley production, or metadata deposit: a figure placed in the wrong position, text lost in conversion, an incorrect issue or page number, a corrupted character set, or an incorrect DOI.

Effect: the journal acknowledges responsibility explicitly. Authors are not held accountable for errors of production.

Addendum — material added

Used when the authors supply information that materially strengthens or clarifies the article without correcting anything: an additional analysis requested by readers, a clarification of method, or a dataset that has since become available.

Effect: the addendum is peer reviewed before publication and is linked to the article as supplementary scholarship, not as a correction.

Expression of Concern — unresolved doubt

Used when the editors hold a well-founded concern about the reliability or integrity of an article but cannot yet resolve it: an institutional investigation is under way, the authors are unresponsive or unable to supply underlying data, the evidence is inconclusive, or an inquiry would be unreasonably protracted.

Effect: a dated notice alerts readers to exercise caution. The expression of concern is itself updated, or replaced by a correction or retraction, once the matter is settled.

Retraction — findings unreliable

Used when the article's main conclusions can no longer be relied upon, or when publication was unethical. The grounds are listed in Section 3.

Effect: readers are told not to rely on the article. The article is not deleted; it remains accessible and clearly marked, so that the literature citing it can still be understood.

Removal — exceptional and rare

Used only when continued availability of the full text would be unlawful or would cause serious harm: a binding court order, defamatory content, a clear infringement of privacy or of personal data, or material that presents a real risk to health or safety.

Effect: the full text is withdrawn but the metadata — title, authors, and DOI — remains in place, together with a notice explaining that the text was removed and on what legal ground. Removal is decided by the Editor in Chief in consultation with the publisher.

3. Grounds for Retraction

The journal retracts an article where, on clear evidence, one or more of the following applies:

Unreliable findings. The results are invalid because of major error, miscalculation, flawed instrumentation, or faulty analysis, whether honest or not, to a degree that the conclusions no longer follow.
Fabrication or falsification. Data, results, images, or participants were invented, or data were manipulated, trimmed, or selectively reported to produce a desired outcome.
Plagiarism. Substantial portions of the text, code, figures, or ideas are taken from another source without attribution, including cases detected after publication by similarity screening or by readers.
Redundant publication. The article has been published previously elsewhere without disclosure, cross-reference, permission, or justification, or the same dataset has been divided to produce multiple overlapping articles.
Unethical research. The work was conducted without required ethical approval or informed consent, or in breach of law or of accepted standards for research involving human participants or personal data.
Compromised peer review. The review process was manipulated, for example through fabricated reviewer identities or e-mail addresses, or through collusion.
Authorship violation. Authorship was sold, gifted, fabricated, or taken without consent, or a legitimate contributor was deliberately omitted.
Infringement of rights. Publication infringed a copyright, a licence, or a legal right of a third party.
Undisclosed conflict. A conflict of interest was concealed and is of a nature that would have materially affected how the article was reviewed, interpreted, or trusted.

A retraction is a statement about the reliability of the published record, not a disciplinary sanction against individuals. Where honest error is established, this is stated plainly in the notice so that the authors are not unfairly implicated in misconduct.

4. Who May Request a Correction or Retraction

The Authors

Any author may request a correction, or a retraction of their own article, by writing to the editorial office. A request to retract must be signed by all co-authors or, where agreement cannot be reached, must state which authors agree and which do not — the notice will record this.

Readers and Third Parties

Readers may report a suspected error or integrity problem through the Post-Publication Discussion channel. The report must identify the article by DOI and specify the passage, figure, table, or value at issue, with supporting evidence.

Institutions and Funders

An employing institution, research-integrity office, ethics committee, or funder may notify the journal of the findings of a formal inquiry. The journal acts on such findings, and does not require the authors' consent in order to publish a retraction.

The Editorial Board

The editors may initiate a correction or retraction on their own motion, including on the basis of post-publication screening, a reader's letter, or information received from an indexing service or another journal.

5. Procedure and Timeline

Receipt and Acknowledgement — 5 working days

The request is logged in the post-publication register with a reference number, and receipt is confirmed in writing. Cases concerning a member of the editorial team are routed directly to the Editor in Chief or, where the Editor in Chief is involved, to an independent senior board member at another institution.

Preliminary Assessment — 14 working days

The Editor in Chief and the handling editor establish whether the concern is specific and supported by evidence, and decide which instrument is potentially applicable. Where technical expertise is needed, an independent assessor who was not involved in the original review is appointed, under confidentiality.

Author Response — 21 days

The corresponding author receives the substance of the concern in full and is invited to respond, to supply underlying data, code, or ethical approvals, and to propose a remedy. No notice is published before the authors have been given this opportunity. Where the authors cannot be contacted or do not reply, the journal records the attempts made and proceeds on the available evidence, and the notice states that the authors did not respond.

One extension of fourteen days is granted on request.
Where an institutional inquiry is pending, the journal may publish an Expression of Concern while awaiting its outcome.

Decision — within 60 days of acknowledgement

The editorial board decides by majority, with any conflicted member recused, and the Editor in Chief records the reasons in writing. The decision, with reasons, is communicated to the authors and to the person who raised the matter. Cases requiring institutional involvement may take longer; the parties are told of the delay and of the expected timeline.

Publication of the Notice — next available issue

The notice is published as a separate item with its own DOI, in the earliest possible issue, and is deposited with Crossref so that it propagates to indexing services. Urgent notices are published online ahead of the issue.

Appeal — 30 days

Authors who disagree with a decision may appeal once, in writing, within thirty days of notification, setting out the grounds and any new evidence. The appeal is considered by two board members who took no part in the original decision, whose recommendation to the Editor in Chief is final. An appeal does not suspend a published notice; if the appeal succeeds, the notice is itself corrected or withdrawn and the correction is published.

6. Form and Visibility of a Notice

Citable and permanent. Every notice is a separate article-level item with its own DOI, title, date, and page range, and is listed in the table of contents of the issue in which it appears.
Standard titling. Correction notices are titled “Corrigendum to: [original title]” or “Erratum to: [original title]”; retraction notices are titled “Retraction: [original title]”. The retracted article itself is relabelled with the prefix “RETRACTED:”.
Free to read. Notices are never placed behind any restriction, and no charge is made to authors or readers for a notice of any kind.
Bidirectional linking. The original article page carries a prominent, dated link to the notice, and the notice links back to the article. The link is retained permanently.
Marked full text. A retracted PDF is watermarked RETRACTED on every page and carries the notice on its first page. The original text is otherwise left intact so that earlier citations remain verifiable.
Reasons stated. A retraction notice states who is retracting the article (authors, editors, or both), the specific grounds under Section 3, and whether the cause was honest error or misconduct. Notices such as “retracted at the request of the authors” without reasons are not used.
Metadata updated. The Crossref deposit is updated with the retraction or correction relationship, and SINTA, Garuda, Google Scholar, Dimensions, BASE, Index Copernicus, and the other services listed under Indexing are notified so that their records reflect the change.
Record retention. The complete case file is retained by the editorial office for a minimum of ten years and is available to accreditation bodies and indexing services on request.

7. What the Journal Does Not Do

No withdrawal of published articles

A request to “withdraw” an article after publication is treated as a request for retraction and handled under this policy. Withdrawal before publication is possible only while the manuscript is still under review or in production, and is governed by the submission terms.

No replacement of files

Corrected files do not replace published galleys. The published PDF stays as it is, and the correction is published separately, so that the version a reader downloaded in the past can still be reconciled with the record.

No correction of trivial matters

Typographical slips that do not alter meaning, affect data, or mislead the reader are not corrected after publication. Where a reader is uncertain, the editorial office will confirm in writing that the published text is as intended.

No undisclosed negotiation

The journal does not agree to suppress, delay, or soften a notice in exchange for payment, institutional pressure, or the threat of legal action. Where litigation is threatened, the publisher takes legal advice and the editorial decision remains with the Editor in Chief.

Requests, reports, and queries under this policy:
Editorial Office, Jurnal Syntax — Corrections and Retractions
Software Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Universitas Dharmawangsa
Jl. K.L. Yos Sudarso No. 224, Medan 20115, North Sumatra, Indonesia
E-mail: admin_syntax@dharmawangsa.ac.id — please write “Correction/Retraction Request: [article DOI]” in the subject line and attach your supporting evidence.

This policy follows the COPE Retraction Guidelines and the COPE flowcharts on correcting the literature. See publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines