Cellular & Molecular Intelligence (CMI) is committed to maintaining the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. Where errors, concerns, or serious issues arise before or after publication, the journal may take appropriate editorial action, including manuscript withdrawal, correction, expression of concern, or retraction.

Withdrawal after submission is treated seriously because it consumes editorial and reviewer time. Authors who wish to withdraw a manuscript must submit a formal written request to the Editorial Office.

A withdrawal request must include:

• Consent: The request must be signed or explicitly confirmed via email by all co-authors.

• Justification: A clear and valid explanation must be provided. Acceptable reasons include the discovery of significant errors in data, the identification of ethical oversights, or unexpected institutional or legal requirements.

• Internal Tracking: CMI maintains a record of withdrawals. While a single withdrawal is usually a routine administrative matter, frequent or last-minute withdrawals without sound scientific justification may be flagged for internal review.

Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, the editorial process is nearly complete. At this stage, withdrawal is permitted only under exceptional circumstances, such as:

• Discovery of fundamental scientific flaws that invalidate the results

• Proof of ethical misconduct or lack of proper consent

• Legal or copyright issues that cannot be resolved through an Erratum

If serious concerns arise after acceptance but before final publication, the journal reserves the right to pause the process and conduct its own investigation. In such cases, the journal may decide to issue a rejection or an expression of concern rather than allowing a simple withdrawal, to ensure that the integrity of the scientific record is protected.

Authors are strongly discouraged from withdrawing a manuscript simply because they wish to submit it to a journal with a higher impact factor after receiving peer review feedback from CMI. This practice, known as “review shopping,” is considered a breach of publishing ethics and a waste of the scientific community’s collective resources.

Depending on the severity and nature of the issue, the journal may issue one of the following notices:

Correction / Erratum / Corrigendum: Issued for small, honest errors, such as a misspelled author name, a labeling error in a figure, or an omitted funding source, that do not change the study’s conclusions.

Expression of Concern: Issued by the editors when there is strong evidence of a potential problem but an investigation is ongoing or inconclusive. It serves as a warning to readers.

Retraction: Reserved for serious cases where the findings are proven unreliable, whether due to honest error, data fabrication, plagiarism, or major ethical violations.

The proof stage is intended to identify and correct typographical errors, layout issues, formatting errors, conversion errors, or minor clerical inaccuracies before final publication.

Substantive alterations, such as adding new data, changing results, modifying data values, changing the title, or revising the author list, are generally not permitted at this stage without prior editorial approval. Any change that significantly affects the scientific interpretation of the work may require a return to the editorial board for re-review.

Once the article is published online, any further corrections can only be made through an Erratum, which will be formally linked to the original publication.

Retractions are never taken lightly. When a retraction is necessary, CMI follows a transparent process.

Clear Justification: A formal retraction notice is published and linked to the original article, explaining precisely why the work is being withdrawn and who is initiating the retraction, whether the authors, the journal, or the institution.

Non-Defamatory Tone: The notice focuses on the scientific and ethical facts of the case, avoiding personal attacks or unnecessary defamation.

Preserving the Record: Retracted articles are not deleted from the journal’s website or archives. Instead, they remain accessible but are prominently marked with a “RETRACTED” watermark on every page of the PDF and HTML versions.

Maintaining the historical record is a core principle of scientific transparency. By keeping retracted papers visible but clearly labeled, CMI ensures that:

• Future researchers do not inadvertently rely on compromised data or flawed conclusions.

• The scientific community can understand the reasons for the failure, which helps in preventing similar issues in the future.

• Citations remain traceable, ensuring that the impact of the retraction is understood by anyone who has previously cited the work.

The Editor-in-Chief of CMI, in collaboration with the publisher’s research integrity team, is responsible for actively protecting the integrity of the published scientific record.

Upon receiving credible reports or suspicions of misconduct, whether in research conduct, publication practices, peer review, or editorial processes, the editor must promptly investigate by engaging the author(s) for clarification, evaluating all claims fairly, and, when warranted, consulting relevant institutions, funding agencies, or ethics bodies.

If compelling evidence of serious misconduct emerges, the editor coordinates with the publisher to issue appropriate remedial actions without delay, such as a correction, an expression of concern, a retraction, or another notice that accurately updates the literature while preserving transparency and trust in the scholarly record.