Inquiry Process

Any complaints, concerns, or questions regarding the technical correctness, clarity, completeness, or quality of an article published in NIJEC should be directed to the editor-in-chief of the journal. For ethical concerns, please also see the Ethics Complaints and Appeals Process.

Queries should contain the following information:

• The title, authors, and issue number of the article in question
• The role of the reporter (i.e. author, reader, other)
• A brief description of the technical concern
• Links to any relevant supporting evidence (articles, data, etc.)

Author’s Responsibilities:

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Editor’s Responsibilities:

Correction Notice

A correction notice will be issued when it is necessary to correct an error or omission which can impact the interpretation of the article; however, the scholarly integrity of the article needs to remain intact. Examples include mislabeling of a figure, missing key information on funding or competing interests of the authors.

Retraction Notice

A retraction notice will be issued where a major error (e.g. in the analysis or methods) invalidates the conclusions in the article, or where research misconduct or publication misconduct has taken place (e.g. research without required ethical approvals, fabricated data, manipulated images, plagiarism, duplicate publication, etc.). Authors and institutions may request a retraction of their articles if their reasons meet the criteria for retraction.

For significant concerns that potentially impact the reliability of the research, the editor will initiate an investigation to determine how the concern will be addressed. Original authors and reviewers will be included in the investigation as needed. The editor will strive to complete investigations within 60 days of reporting.