General Principles

Actions affecting a submitted or published article will be based on an objective editorial assessment of the available evidence.

The journal may take action where necessary to address:

• plagiarism or substantial unattributed use of another work;
• duplicate or redundant publication;
• simultaneous submission to multiple journals;
• fabrication, falsification, or improper manipulation of data;
• serious methodological or scientific errors;
• false or unauthorized authorship claims;
• undisclosed conflicts of interest;
• copyright infringement;
• defamatory or unlawful content;
• research-ethics violations;
• serious risks of harm arising from reliance on the article; or
• other conduct that materially compromises the reliability or integrity of the scholarly record.

Article Retraction

A published article may be retracted when its findings, data, authorship, originality, legality, or ethical integrity are seriously compromised.

Grounds for retraction may include:

• clear evidence that the findings are unreliable because of major error, fabrication, or falsification;
• plagiarism or substantial unattributed reproduction;
• duplicate or redundant publication;
• fraudulent or unauthorized use of data;
• false, disputed, or manipulated authorship;
• publication without required ethical approval or informed consent;
• serious conflicts of interest that were not disclosed;
• copyright infringement or another substantial legal violation; or
• other serious publication misconduct.

Retraction Procedure

A retraction may be initiated by the authors, editors, publisher, institution, or another party that provides credible information concerning the integrity of the article.

Where authors request a retraction, the journal may require:

• a written and signed request;
• a clear explanation of the reason for the request;
• agreement from all authors, where reasonably obtainable; and
• supporting documentation relevant to the request.

Author consent is not required when the journal determines, following an appropriate investigation, that retraction is necessary to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

Retraction Notice

When an article is retracted, the journal will publish a clearly identifiable retraction notice that:

• identifies the retracted article by title, author, publication year, volume, issue, and DOI or URL;
• states who initiated the retraction;
• explains the reason for the retraction;
• distinguishes between error and misconduct where the evidence allows;
• is linked to the original article; and
• is freely accessible to readers.

The original article will normally remain accessible but will be clearly marked as retracted on the article page and published files. Its entry in the issue table of contents will also indicate the retraction status.

Article Withdrawal

Article withdrawal is strongly discouraged and will be considered only in exceptional circumstances involving an article that has been accepted or made available as an early publication but has not yet been formally published as part of an issue.

Withdrawal may be considered when:

• an article has been accidentally published more than once;
• the wrong or incomplete version has been released;
• the article contains serious errors that could cause harm if relied upon;
• there is evidence of plagiarism, duplicate submission, false authorship, or improper use of data;
• the publication violates legal, ethical, confidentiality, privacy, or copyright requirements; or
• another exceptional circumstance makes continued availability inappropriate.

Withdrawal Notice

When an article is withdrawn, its HTML and PDF content may be replaced with a withdrawal notice explaining that the article has been withdrawn.

The journal will normally retain essential bibliographic metadata, including the article title, authors, publication details, and DOI where applicable. The notice will state the reason for withdrawal to the extent permitted by legal, ethical, confidentiality, and privacy considerations.

Withdrawal at the Author's Request

Authors do not have an automatic right to withdraw an article after acceptance or publication merely because they retain copyright.

The journal will evaluate withdrawal requests in light of:

• the stage of the editorial and production process;
• the reason for the request;
• the agreement of all authors;
• the integrity of the scholarly record;
• any ethical or legal concerns; and
• the journal's responsibilities to readers, reviewers, editors, and indexing services.

After formal publication, concerns will normally be addressed through correction, retraction, removal, or replacement rather than withdrawal.

Article Removal

Removal of a published article is reserved for extremely limited and exceptional circumstances.

An article may be removed when:

• its continued publication is clearly defamatory or unlawful;
• it infringes another person's legal rights;
• it is subject to, or is reasonably expected to become subject to, a court or regulatory order;
• it contains confidential, private, or personally identifiable information that should not have been published;
• it presents a serious and immediate risk to public health or safety; or
• removal is required by another compelling legal or ethical obligation.

Where removal is necessary, the article's bibliographic metadata will normally be retained. The article content will be replaced with a notice stating that the material has been removed and explaining the general reason, except where disclosure is legally prohibited.

Article Replacement

Article replacement may be considered when a published article contains information that could create a serious risk of harm if acted upon, but a corrected version can reliably address the problem.

In such circumstances:

• the original article may be retracted or removed in accordance with this policy;
• a replacement version may be published after appropriate editorial and peer review;
• the replacement article will be linked to the relevant retraction or replacement notice;
• the notice will explain the reason for replacement; and
• the publication history will remain transparent and accessible.

Corrections

Retraction or withdrawal will not normally be used when an error can be adequately corrected without invalidating the article's principal findings or conclusions.

Minor or limited errors may be addressed through:

• an erratum;
• a corrigendum;
• a formal correction notice;
• an updated article version with a documented publication history; or
• another appropriate editorial notice.

Expression of Concern

The journal may publish an expression of concern when credible doubts have been raised regarding an article but:

• the investigation remains incomplete;
• the available evidence is inconclusive;
• the relevant institution has not completed its investigation;
• the investigation is unlikely to reach a timely conclusion; or
• legal or procedural limitations prevent an immediate final decision.

An expression of concern may later be replaced or supplemented by a correction, retraction, or other appropriate notice.

Editorial Investigation

Before taking action, the journal may request explanations, documentation, raw data, ethical approvals, authorship confirmations, or other relevant evidence from the authors or their institutions.

The Editorial Team will seek to:

• assess allegations objectively;
• provide affected parties with an opportunity to respond;
• protect confidential information;
• avoid unsupported conclusions;
• consult the publisher, institution, or legal adviser where necessary; and
• document the basis of the final editorial decision.

Author Copyright

Authors' ownership of copyright does not override the journal's responsibility to preserve the integrity, accuracy, and transparency of the published scholarly record.

Requests for withdrawal, removal, replacement, or retraction will therefore be evaluated under this policy regardless of whether copyright is retained by the authors.

Article Fees

Jurnal Hukum Saraswati (JHS) does not charge manuscript submission, processing, peer-review, or article publication fees.

Accordingly, no publication payment is required in connection with acceptance, publication, withdrawal, correction, retraction, removal, or replacement of an article.

Preservation of the Scholarly Record

Where technically, legally, and ethically possible, the journal will preserve the history of all significant changes made to an article.

Retraction, withdrawal, removal, correction, and replacement notices will remain linked to the affected article and will be communicated to relevant indexing, archiving, and metadata services where appropriate.