Correction and retractions policy

Kidneys follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines on post-publication corrections, retractions, and integrity of the scholarly record. The journal is committed to maintaining accuracy, transparency, and ethical publishing standards.

1. General Principles

  • The published version of an article is considered the version of record.

  • Corrections may be issued when errors are discovered after publication.

  • Errors that affect the scientific integrity or reliability of the work require formal correction or retraction.

  • All notices (Addendum, Erratum, Corrigendum, Retraction, or Expression of Concern) are freely available, permanently linked to the original article, and indexed.

2. Types of Post-Publication Updates

Addendum

An Addendum is issued when the authors unintentionally omitted important information that does not change the results or conclusions of the study.

  • It is assigned a unique DOI.

  • It undergoes editorial assessment and, when necessary, peer review.

  • The addendum is linked to the original article.

Erratum

An Erratum corrects significant errors introduced by the publisher during production (e.g., formatting errors, typesetting issues, omitted author corrections).

  • Published promptly in the next issue.

  • Linked to the original version of record.

Corrigendum

A Corrigendum is issued when authors identify errors they made that impact interpretation, accuracy, or reproducibility of the study.

  • Authors must submit a correction request.

  • The correction is reviewed by the editorial team.

  • A corrigendum is published with a link to the original article.

Expression of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when:

  • there is inconclusive evidence of misconduct

  • investigations are ongoing

  • serious concerns exist but are not yet confirmed

This notice remains linked to the article until the investigation concludes.

Retraction

A Retraction is issued when:

  • data fabrication or falsification is confirmed

  • plagiarism is detected

  • unethical research practices are identified

  • serious conflicts of interest were undisclosed

  • findings are unreliable or invalid

Retraction notices:

  • clearly state the reason for retraction

  • identify who is retracting the article

  • remain permanently accessible

  • are linked to both the PDF and HTML versions

  • appear in the table of contents of the next issue

The original article remains online but is marked clearly as retracted on every page.

3. Responsibility and Process

  • The Editor-in-Chief (or an independent editor in COI cases) evaluates retraction/correction requests.

  • The publisher, ARC Publishing, ensures long-term preservation and accuracy of corrected records.

  • Authors may appeal decisions by providing justification.

  • COPE flowcharts are used for all decision-making.

4. Indexing and Archiving

All corrections, retractions, and notices are:

  • assigned DOIs

  • indexed in Crossref

  • tagged for repositories such as Scopus, DOAJ, Google Scholar, and NLM databases

  • permanently preserved in the journal archive