Article Withdrawal Policy
Authors should submit manuscripts only after all co-authors have approved the submission and after confirming that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere. Once peer review, editorial evaluation, copyediting, production, DOI registration, or online publication has begun, withdrawal may affect editorial resources and the integrity of the scholarly record.
Removal of a manuscript from editorial consideration before final publication, subject to editorial approval and the conditions in this policy.
A post-publication action used when a published article is unreliable, unethical, or otherwise should not remain part of the reliable literature.
Exceptional deletion or restriction of published content because of serious legal, privacy, safety, or security concerns.
Withdrawal may be considered when authors or editors identify a serious issue that makes continued editorial processing inappropriate.
A fundamental error makes the manuscript or its conclusions unreliable and cannot reasonably be corrected through revision.
The submitted manuscript or supporting data were materially incorrect or unintentionally replaced by the wrong version.
The authors disclose that the manuscript was submitted elsewhere in error and request immediate resolution.
Required ethics approval, informed consent, permission, copyright clearance, or legal authority is absent or invalid.
A serious and unresolved authorship dispute prevents the authors from providing a valid collective submission.
The manuscript entered production, duplicate publication, or DOI processing because of a journal or technical error.
- the authors changed their minds after submission;
- the authors prefer to submit to another journal;
- the authors disagree with reviewer criticism or an editorial decision;
- the review or production process is perceived as slower than expected;
- the authors wish to avoid revision requirements;
- an author needs the manuscript for promotion, graduation, funding, or another deadline;
- the authors dispute payment or administrative requirements that were disclosed before submission.
A withdrawal request must be submitted by the corresponding author through the OJS discussion function or official journal email and should include:
PJKM normally requires written agreement from all listed authors before approving a voluntary withdrawal. If one or more authors disagree, cannot be contacted, or dispute the request, the journal may suspend processing while seeking clarification from the authors, their institutions, or another competent body.
The journal records the request and confirms the manuscript's current editorial or production stage.
The editor checks author agreement, reasons, evidence, related submissions, and possible ethical implications.
The editor determines whether withdrawal, continued review, rejection, suspension, or another action is appropriate.
The corresponding author is informed of the decision and any resulting notice, record, or further requirement.
| Stage | General Position |
|---|---|
| Before editorial screening | Withdrawal may usually be approved when the request is prompt, documented, and supported by all authors. |
| During peer review | The request is evaluated carefully because reviewer and editorial resources have already been used. |
| After acceptance | Withdrawal is permitted only for compelling ethical, legal, scientific, or authorship reasons. |
| During production | The request is subject to heightened review because copyediting, layout, DOI, metadata, or scheduling may be underway. |
| After publication | The matter is handled under the Correction, Retraction, and Expression of Concern Policy rather than this withdrawal policy. |
If a DOI has been registered, metadata distributed, or an early online record created, withdrawal may require a permanent withdrawal notice rather than complete deletion. The bibliographic record may remain available so that readers, indexers, repositories, and citation systems understand the article's status.
PJKM may withdraw a manuscript without an author request when serious concerns arise, including duplicate submission, plagiarism, fabricated information, invalid ethics approval, copyright infringement, peer-review manipulation, unlawful content, or a technical publication error. Authors will normally be given an opportunity to respond unless urgent legal, privacy, safety, or integrity considerations require immediate action.
Repeated submission and withdrawal, simultaneous submission to multiple journals, withdrawal after extensive review solely to transfer the manuscript elsewhere, or false information in a withdrawal request may be treated as publication misconduct. PJKM may reject the manuscript, notify relevant journals or institutions, or restrict future submissions where proportionate and justified.
Withdrawal does not automatically cancel charges, production costs, or administrative obligations that were transparently disclosed and legitimately incurred before the request. Any applicable financial consequence must be stated separately in the journal's Article Processing Charges or author-fee policy and must not be used to suppress legitimate ethical concerns.
Submit only approved and complete manuscripts, disclose problems promptly, provide accurate documentation, and obtain agreement from all authors.
Assess requests fairly, preserve confidentiality, consider ethical implications, and issue a reasoned written decision.
Implement approved withdrawal actions, metadata updates, notices, and preservation of the scholarly record.
