I. Policy Statement and Scope

Passerelle is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. This policy defines the precise actions taken by the journal to correct, withdraw, or retract published content. All actions are transparent and procedural, and undertaken in strict adherence to the guidelines of the Publication Malpractice Statement and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

This policy covers three distinct actions: Withdrawal (pre-publication removal), Correction (minor post-publication changes), and Retraction (severe post-publication invalidation).

II. Withdrawal of a Manuscript (Pre-Publication)

Withdrawal is the removal of a manuscript from the journal's submission system before it has been formally published or indexed.

• Author Withdrawal: Authors may request to withdraw their manuscript at any point prior to acceptance. If a withdrawal request is made after the manuscript has entered peer review or has been formally accepted, the Editorial Board reserves the right to impose sanctions, including a temporary ban on future submissions in order to compensate for administrative and reviewer workload.
• Editorial Withdrawal: The Editorial Board reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript if major ethical concerns (e.g., data concerns, plagiarism detected by screening software) arise during the peer review process, as detailed in the Plagiarism Policy.

III. Post-Publication Corrections

Corrections are issued for minor errors that do not affect the scientific validity, conclusions, or reliability of the study.

• Erratum (Publisher Error): An Erratum is a notice issued by the journal to correct an error introduced by the editorial or production office (e.g., typographical mistakes, formatting errors, or a mislabeled figure).
• Corrigendum (Author Error): A Corrigendum is a notice issued at the authors' request to correct a significant error made by the author(s) that affects the article’s accuracy or clarity but does not invalidate its conclusions. This must be initiated by the corresponding author and approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

IV. Expression of Concern (EOC)

An Expression of Concern is a public notice published by the journal when the Editorial Board has serious doubts about the integrity of a published article, but the investigation is not yet complete.

The Expression of Concern clearly states that an investigation is ongoing and does not constitute a final finding or confirmation of misconduct. The notice will be permanently linked to the original article until the investigation concludes with either a final retraction or clearance of the authors.

V. Retraction (Post-Publication Invalidation)

Retraction is the ultimate declaration that an article should not be part of the published scholarly record. This action is reserved for confirmed cases of severe misconduct or error.

Reasons for retraction include, but are not limited to: confirmed fraud, confirmed plagiarism (including self-plagiarism or duplicate submission), unethical research practices, or severe, irreproducible errors in the research methodology or data.

When a decision to retract is finalized by the Editorial Board, Passerelle will take the following authoritative actions:

1. Retraction Notice: A Retraction Notice will be published and permanently linked to the original article. This notice will state the reason(s) for the retraction and will be signed by the Editor-in-Chief.
2. Article Marking: The original article will be clearly and unambiguously permanently watermarked with a "RETRACTED" banner across all online versions on the journal's official website and on the ASJP platform. The journal will immediately notify all abstracting and indexing services where the journal is listed, supplying the required metadata so that the article's status is permanently updated on their platforms to ensure the integrity of the scholarly record.
3. Preservation: The original article files remain in the public domain, marked as retracted, to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record and prevent citation of invalid work.
4. Notification: The author's home institution, funding body, and any relevant professional organizations will be formally notified of the decision, as detailed in the Publication Malpractice Statement.