Believers Journal of Health Sciences (BJHS) is committed to maintaining the accuracy, transparency, and integrity of the scholarly record. This policy explains how the journal addresses errors, concerns, and serious integrity issues identified in published articles. The journal may publish formal corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other appropriate editorial notices to ensure that readers have reliable and complete information about the status of published content.
A formal correction may be published when an error is identified that affects the accuracy, clarity, completeness, or usability of a published article but does not invalidate its principal findings. Corrections may address matters including:
Reporting Protocol: Authors should notify the editorial office promptly after identifying an error and provide a clear description of the issue together with any supporting information required for editorial assessment. The journal may also initiate a correction when an error is identified by editors, readers, or other relevant parties. Where appropriate, authors will be given an opportunity to comment before the correction notice is finalized.
An Expression of Concern may be issued when serious questions arise regarding research ethics, informed consent, data reliability, image integrity, conflicts of interest, or other matters affecting the reliability of a published article, but the available evidence is incomplete or an institutional investigation is ongoing. An Expression of Concern does not constitute a final finding of misconduct. It informs readers that concerns are under assessment while the journal awaits sufficient evidence or the outcome of an appropriate investigation.
An article may be formally retracted when reliable evidence demonstrates that its findings or publication record are seriously compromised. Circumstances that may warrant retraction include:
Retraction is undertaken to correct and protect the scholarly record rather than to serve as an administrative punishment. Before reaching a decision, the journal reviews the available evidence, relevant submission and editorial records, potential conflicts of interest, and responses from the authors or other involved parties where appropriate. A retraction notice will clearly identify the affected article, explain the reason for the retraction, and indicate who initiated the action where relevant. The notice will remain permanently associated with the published record. The original article will ordinarily remain accessible but will be clearly identified as retracted. Removal of published content will be considered only in exceptional circumstances involving legal requirements, privacy concerns, serious risks, or other compelling reasons.
Where an identified problem is limited to a specific part of an article and does not invalidate the principal findings, the journal may determine that a correction or other clearly identified amendment is more appropriate than full retraction. Authors may appeal a correction, retraction, or Expression of Concern decision by submitting a written statement supported by relevant evidence to the editorial office. Appeals will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief or, where necessary to avoid a conflict of interest, by an appropriate independent editorial representative. Submission of an appeal does not automatically suspend an editorial notice that has already been issued.
When a post-publication notice, such as a Correction, Expression of Concern, or Retraction, is issued, BJHS updates the relevant article record and associated metadata to clearly reflect its current publication status. Where applicable, corresponding updates may also be communicated to relevant abstracting, indexing, and archiving services to help maintain an accurate and transparent scholarly record.