The editorial board of the journal «GRAIL OF SCIENCE» adheres to the principles of maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record and responsibility for published research results. In the event of identifying errors, inaccuracies, or potential violations of publication ethics, the editorial board applies appropriate mechanisms for correcting or updating publications in accordance with the recommendations, principles, and approaches of international organizations and relevant national regulations, in particular:
– recommendations on post-publication corrections by
Committee on Publication Ethics
COPE Post-publication discussions & corrections
More details
– recommendations on ethics and editorial processes by
World Association of Medical Editors
– approaches to assessing research reliability by
San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment
– as well as the provisions established in
Code of Ethics of a Scientist of Ukraine
General principles.
Corrections and updates of publications are not used as a tool to penalize authors but are intended solely to ensure the accuracy and reliability of scientific information. The editorial board of the journal «GRAIL OF SCIENCE» is guided by the following principles:
– ensuring the reliability of the scholarly record;
– transparency and openness of information for readers;
– prompt response to identified errors;
– proportionality of measures to the nature of the violation;
– preservation of access to the original publication with appropriate notices.
Types of Corrections and Updates:
Depending on the nature of the identified issues, the editorial board may apply the following mechanisms:
– corrections, including both author errors (corrigendum) and editorial inaccuracies (erratum);
– expression of concern.
Initiation and consideration. 3 to 60 days
The following parties may initiate corrections:
– authors;
– editorial board;
– reviewers;
– readers or other interested parties.
The basis for initiating the procedure is a substantiated notification (complaint) or the independent identification of potential violations by members of the editorial board, formalized in an appropriate record. The complaint or editorial record must include:
– a clear description of the issue;
– a reference to the relevant publication or manuscript;
– supporting materials (if available).
All submissions are considered in accordance with Complaints Handling Procedure. The editorial board:
– conducts an initial assessment;
– if necessary, initiates an investigation involving authors, reviewers, and independent experts;
– ensures impartiality, confidentiality, and absence of conflicts of interest throughout the process.
Expression of Concern.
An Expression of Concern is applied in cases where an investigation into potential violations is ongoing and it is not possible to promptly confirm or refute their existence, or when the investigation is delayed for reasons beyond the editorial board’s control. The editorial board publishes an Expression of Concern indicating the grounds for such a decision. This notice must not create the impression of a final conclusion regarding the existence of a violation. Upon completion of the investigation, the notice is either removed (updated with a statement refuting previous concerns) or replaced with a correction or retraction
Correction / Erratum / Corrigendum.
A correction is applied when identified errors do not affect the main results and conclusions of the research and do not alter their interpretation, for example:
– editorial errors, such as incorrectly formatted text, broken formulas, missing fragments, etc.;
– author-related technical or factual errors, such as incorrect data in tables, numerical errors, inaccurate wording, missing references, errors in author details, affiliations, etc.
Payment for corrections of author errors (Corrigendum).
The editorial board ensures the implementation of corrections to published materials in order to maintain the reliability of the scholarly record, regardless of the nature of the error. In cases where corrections are caused by an author’s error, initiated by the author, and require additional costs (including DOI assignment, re-layout, re-uploading to electronic libraries, etc.), the editorial board may establish a fee for such services. Information on the cost and payment procedure is provided to authors after a positive decision on the correction and may constitute part of the Article Processing Charge (APC), proportional to the scope of additional work. At the same time, the absence of payment is not a ground for refusing to implement corrections necessary to ensure the reliability of scientific information.
Procedure for publishing information about corrections (if a decision is made)::
– the scientific work is NOT removed from the journal archive but remains in open access with a clear «CORRECTED» label in the title and a watermark in the full-text PDF;
– the corrected work is issued as a separate publication (including with a separate DOI), clearly linked to the original article.
The editorial board ensures that the publication history is transparent and accessible.
Notification of parties and indexing.
In the event of a decision on a correction or Expression of Concern, the editorial board informs the authors and, if necessary, notifies the institutions affiliated with the authors. The editorial board also initiates updates in scientometric and abstracting databases, including adding the relevant note to the DOI metadat.
Interaction with retraction.
In cases where identified violations are substantial and affect the reliability of research results, the editorial board applies the retraction procedure in accordance with the separately established Retraction Policy.
In complex or disputed cases, the editorial board reserves the right to seek guidance or recommendations from the Committee on Publication Ethics.
Edition dated 23.01.2026
