Retraction Policy for Published Articles

General Provisions

The Editorial Board of the journal Coordinates of Public Administration considers issues related to the retraction of published articles in accordance with the principles of objectivity, evidence-based assessment, confidentiality, proportionality of editorial action, and internationally recognized standards of publication ethics.

Retraction is not regarded as a punitive measure against the author but is applied in cases where a published article contains significant violations of academic integrity, breaches of publication ethics, or errors that undermine the scientific reliability of the results.

Grounds for Retraction

A decision to retract an article may be made if one or more of the following circumstances are established:

– identification of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or unauthorized use of others’ texts, ideas, data, tables, or figures;

– fabrication, falsification, or significant distortion of research data;

– inclusion of inaccurate bibliographic references, fabricated sources, non-existent DOIs, or falsified information;

– duplicate or redundant publication of the same material without proper disclosure to the Editorial Board;

– significant methodological or factual errors affecting the validity of the article’s conclusions;

– infringement of copyright or intellectual property rights of third parties;

– inappropriate authorship attribution, including the inclusion of individuals who did not make a genuine scholarly contribution or the exclusion of those who did;

– undisclosed conflicts of interest that may have influenced the content, results, or editorial decision;

– manipulation of the peer-review process, including the provision of false reviewer information or the use of fabricated or commissioned reviews;

– substantial undeclared or improper use of artificial intelligence tools, particularly for generating scientific conclusions, fabricating data, producing fictitious sources, or misrepresenting authorship;

– other violations of academic integrity, legal norms, or publication ethics that call into question the scholarly value and integrity of the publication.

Initiation of the Retraction Procedure

The retraction procedure may be initiated by:

– the Editor-in-Chief;

– members of the Editorial Board;

– the author(s) of the article;

– reviewers;

– readers;

– representatives of academic institutions;

– other individuals or organizations providing substantiated evidence of potential misconduct.

A request for retraction must include a clear statement of the grounds, reference to the relevant publication, and verifiable supporting evidence.

Consideration of Retraction

Upon receipt of a request, the Editorial Board conducts a preliminary assessment of its validity. If sufficient grounds are identified, a full investigation is initiated, which may include:

– analysis of the article’s content;

– similarity checking;

– verification of sources, DOIs, bibliographic records, and data;

– requests for explanations from the author(s);

– involvement of independent experts;

– consultation with the author’s affiliated institution or other relevant bodies.

The author(s) are given the opportunity to provide written explanations and additional materials. Editorial decisions are not made solely on the basis of assumptions or unverified claims.

Editorial Decision

Following the review, the Editorial Board may adopt one of the following decisions:

– to maintain the publication without changes if the allegation is not substantiated;

– to publish a correction if the identified issues do not significantly affect the main results or conclusions;

– to retract the article if the established violations or errors substantially undermine its reliability, originality, or ethical acceptability.

The decision to retract is made by the Editorial Board and documented in an official editorial record.

Notification of Authors

In the event of a retraction decision, the Editorial Board informs the author(s) of the grounds for such action. The notification includes a concise description of the established facts and the violations or errors that led to the retraction.

Disagreement of the author(s) with the Editorial Board’s decision does not prevent the retraction if sufficient evidence of significant misconduct or unreliability of the published results exists.

Public Disclosure of Retraction

A retracted article is not removed from the scholarly record without trace. To ensure transparency, a retraction notice is published on the journal’s website, including:

– the title of the article;

– the name(s) of the author(s);

– the year, issue number, and page range of publication;

– the DOI or other identifier (if available);

– the date of the retraction decision;

– a brief statement of the reason for retraction.

The electronic version of the retracted article may remain accessible, clearly marked as «Retracted» on each page or in the publication metadata. This approach ensures transparency, prevents silent removal, and complies with international standards for maintaining the scholarly record.

Consequences of Retraction

Following retraction, the article is no longer considered a valid scholarly publication and must not be cited as a reliable source without explicit reference to its retracted status.

If the article has a DOI, the Editorial Board takes appropriate measures to update its metadata so that the retracted status is reflected in indexing systems, repositories, and bibliographic databases.

Final Provisions

The Editorial Board reserves the right to update this retraction policy in accordance with international standards of publication ethics, evolving retraction guidelines, developments in open science, and applicable legislation of Ukraine.