1. Purpose and Scope

This policy applies to all articles and other scholarly content published by JTST. It explains how the journal responds when an error, omission, authorship concern, ethical issue, unreliable finding, or other significant problem is identified after publication.

The purpose of a correction, expression of concern, or retraction is to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. Editorial action is intended to correct the publication record and inform readers, rather than to punish the parties involved.

2. Types of Post-Publication Action

3. Circumstances Requiring a Correction

JTST may publish a correction, erratum, or corrigendum when:

• A factual, typographical, or production error affects the interpretation of the article;
• An author's name, affiliation, correspondence information, or contribution statement is inaccurate;
• A table, figure, formula, citation, or supplementary file contains a correctable error;
• A funding source, conflict of interest, ethical approval, or data availability statement is incomplete;
• An eligible contributor was unintentionally omitted and the authorship issue can be resolved transparently; or
• The reliability of the principal findings and conclusions remains unaffected.

Minor spelling, grammatical, or formatting errors that do not affect the interpretation, indexing, attribution, or integrity of an article may be corrected without publishing a separate notice. Significant changes will always be documented.

4. Circumstances Requiring Retraction

An article may be considered for retraction when:

• There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable because of fabrication, falsification, manipulation, or a serious error;
• The article contains substantial plagiarism;
• The findings have previously been published without proper disclosure, justification, or citation;
• The article reports unethical research or lacks required ethical approval;
• There is evidence of manipulated or compromised peer review;
• The article infringes copyright, privacy, confidentiality, or another legal right;
• A serious authorship violation, including omission of an eligible contributor, materially affects the integrity of the article;
• The authors fail to disclose a major conflict of interest that affects the reliability or interpretation of the work; or
• A correction cannot adequately resolve the identified problem.

5. Assessment and Decision Procedure

Concerns about published content will be assessed fairly and objectively. The procedure may include:

Where an allegation requires a formal institutional investigation, JTST may contact the relevant institution, research ethics committee, funder, or other competent authority.

6. Presentation of Corrections and Retractions

JTST will apply the following principles when publishing a correction or retraction:

• The original publication will not be silently deleted or replaced;
• The notice will clearly identify the affected article by title, publication details, and DOI;
• The notice will explain the reason for the editorial action using objective and non-defamatory language;
• The notice will state whether the action was initiated by the authors, editors, publisher, or another authorized party;
• The notice will be dated and made freely accessible;
• The original article and the notice will be linked in both directions whenever technically possible;
• A retracted article will be clearly labelled RETRACTED on its article page and PDF;
• The article's DOI and bibliographic information will be retained;
• The publication metadata will be updated; and
• Relevant indexing, archiving, and DOI registration services will be notified as appropriate.

7. Authorship Corrections

Requests to add, remove, or change the order of authors after publication must be supported by a written explanation and appropriate evidence of contribution. JTST will normally request written agreement from all authors and the contributor whose name is being added or removed.

Authorship changes will not be made silently. If an authorship issue constitutes a serious ethical violation and cannot be resolved through a transparent correction, JTST may publish an expression of concern or retract the article.

8. Appeals

A party directly affected by a correction or retraction decision may submit a reasoned appeal to the JTST editorial office. The appeal must explain the grounds for disagreement and include relevant supporting evidence.

The appeal will be reviewed by an editor or designated person who is not directly conflicted with the case. An appeal does not automatically suspend an editorial action taken to protect the integrity of the scholarly record.

9. Reporting a Concern

Readers, authors, reviewers, and other parties may report an error or ethical concern relating to a published article. Reports should include the article title, DOI or URL, a description of the concern, and relevant supporting evidence.

10. Policy and Ethical Framework

JTST manages corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions in accordance with its publication ethics policies and relevant guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) .

This policy should be read together with JTST's policies on publication ethics, allegations of research misconduct, plagiarism, authorship and contributorship, conflicts of interest, ethical clearance, peer review, and data integrity.