Withdrawal Policy

The withdrawal policy outlines the conditions and process for withdrawing a submitted or published manuscript from the Urdu Research Journal: ارمغانِ سرحد. This policy is designed to ensure transparency, ethical standards, and integrity in academic publishing.

1. Withdrawal Before Peer Review

Authors may request the withdrawal of their manuscript before the peer-review process begins. Such requests must be made in writing and sent to the journal's editorial office via email, providing the manuscript's ID and title, along with a valid reason for withdrawal.

Conditions:

  • The manuscript must not have undergone peer review.
  • The request must come from the corresponding author, with consent from all co-authors.

2. Withdrawal During or After Peer Review

Withdrawal requests made during or after peer review are strongly discouraged unless exceptional circumstances arise (e.g., errors discovered post-submission, ethical concerns, or conflict of interest).

Procedure:

  • A detailed written request, stating the reasons for withdrawal, must be submitted.
  • Consent from all co-authors must be explicitly provided.
  • The editorial board reserves the right to approve or deny the withdrawal request based on the circumstances.

Consequences:

  • If withdrawal is approved, the manuscript will no longer be considered for publication in the journal.
  • The authors may be required to reimburse the journal for any costs incurred during the review process.

3. Withdrawal After Acceptance

Withdrawal after acceptance but before publication is strongly discouraged as it disrupts the editorial process and journal scheduling.

Conditions:

  • Authors must provide a compelling justification for the withdrawal.
  • The request must include written consent from all authors.

Consequences:

  • The journal may impose a penalty, such as a publication ban for future submissions by the authors.

4. Withdrawal of Published Manuscripts

Once a manuscript is published, withdrawal is only permitted in exceptional cases, such as proven instances of:

  • Plagiarism.
  • Major ethical breaches.
  • Errors that invalidate the findings.

Procedure:

  • A formal retraction process will be initiated following the journal's retraction policy.
  • A retraction notice will be published in place of the article, explaining the reasons for its withdrawal.

5. Unauthorized Withdrawal

If an author attempts to withdraw a manuscript without proper justification or fails to follow the journal’s procedures, the editorial board reserves the right to:

  • Reject future submissions from the author(s).
  • Report unethical behavior to relevant institutions or funding bodies.