The Editorial Team of NUSALEGIS: Journal of Legal Studies takes responsibility for maintaining the integrity of articles published by the journal. When credible concerns arise regarding errors, research integrity, plagiarism, duplicate publication, authorship, ethical violations, inaccurate data, or other matters affecting the reliability of a publication, the journal will evaluate the issue and determine the appropriate editorial response.

Editorial actions will be proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the problem and are intended to ensure that readers have access to an accurate and transparent scholarly record.

A correction may be issued when an otherwise reliable published article contains an error or omission that should be formally corrected to ensure the accuracy of the scholarly record.

A correction may be appropriate for errors involving:

• Author names or affiliations;
• Corresponding-author information;
• Errors in tables, figures, or captions;
• Incorrect references or citation information;
• Minor numerical or typographical errors;
• Incorrect identification of legislation, court decisions, or other legal materials;
• Errors in statements that do not invalidate the principal findings of the article;
• Omitted acknowledgments or funding information;
• Other errors that require clarification for readers.

Publication of Corrections

Where a correction is necessary, NUSALEGIS may publish a separate correction notice linked to the original article. The notice should clearly identify the article, describe the error, and provide the corrected information. The original article should remain part of the scholarly record unless the error is sufficiently serious to require retraction.

Purely cosmetic changes that do not affect the meaning, interpretation, citation, indexing, authorship, or academic record may be corrected administratively where appropriate. However, substantive changes to published content should be documented transparently through an appropriate correction notice.

Retraction is a mechanism for correcting the scholarly record when a published article contains serious problems that make the article unreliable, invalid, unethical, or otherwise unsuitable to remain in the literature without a clear retraction notice.

Retraction is not intended as punishment. Its primary purpose is to protect readers, maintain the integrity of the scholarly record, and clearly identify publications that should no longer be relied upon as valid scholarly work.

When an article is retracted, NUSALEGIS will seek to ensure that the retraction notice:

• Clearly identifies the retracted article;
• Is linked to the original article wherever technically possible;
• Clearly states that the article has been retracted;
• Explains the principal reason for the retraction;
• Identifies who initiated the retraction where appropriate;
• Avoids defamatory or unnecessarily accusatory language;
• Remains freely accessible to readers.

A retracted article should normally remain accessible as part of the scholarly record rather than being silently deleted. Where technically possible, the article will be clearly marked or watermarked as RETRACTED and linked to the corresponding retraction notice. Bibliographic metadata should be preserved to ensure transparency concerning the publication history.

Complete removal of a published article is reserved for exceptional circumstances where continued public access would create serious legal, privacy, safety, or other significant harm that cannot reasonably be addressed by retraction alone.

Where an article must be removed, the journal may retain a bibliographic record or explanatory notice indicating why the content is no longer available, to the extent legally and technically permissible.

Authors may request withdrawal of a manuscript submitted to NUSALEGIS by providing a clear written request to the Editorial Office. A withdrawal request should explain the reason for withdrawal and should normally be submitted by the corresponding author with the knowledge and agreement of all listed authors.

A manuscript should not be considered formally withdrawn until the Editorial Office has confirmed the withdrawal request.

Authors may normally request withdrawal during the initial editorial screening stage. Where no substantial editorial or peer-review work has yet been undertaken, the journal may approve the withdrawal without further administrative action.

Withdrawal requests submitted after the peer-review process has begun should include a reasonable explanation. Authors are expected to respect the time and scholarly contributions of editors and reviewers who have already worked on the manuscript. The Editorial Office will evaluate the request and confirm whether the manuscript has been formally withdrawn.

Withdrawal After Acceptance Requires Editorial Approval

A manuscript that has already been formally accepted should not normally be withdrawn without a substantial and legitimate reason. At this stage, significant editorial, peer-review, copyediting, or production work may already have been completed. The Editorial Team will consider withdrawal requests after acceptance on a case-by-case basis.

Requests received after a manuscript has entered copyediting, layout, proofreading, DOI registration, metadata preparation, or other production activities will receive additional editorial consideration. Authors should understand that withdrawal at an advanced production stage may disrupt scheduled publication and require substantial administrative work. Any applicable financial consequences are governed by the journal's Article Processing Charges policy.

Authors should not withdraw a manuscript merely to submit substantially the same work to another journal while the manuscript remains active in NUSALEGIS. Submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to multiple journals constitutes inappropriate publication practice. A manuscript remains under the editorial responsibility of NUSALEGIS until the Editorial Office has formally confirmed withdrawal.

The Editorial Team may discontinue or withdraw a manuscript from the editorial process where serious concerns are identified, including:

• Evidence of plagiarism;
• Duplicate or simultaneous submission;
• Fabrication or falsification;
• Manipulated peer review;
• Serious authorship disputes;
• Ethical violations;
• False or misleading information;
• Failure to provide requested clarification concerning serious ethical concerns;
• Other significant violations of journal policy.

Where serious concerns about a published article exist but the available evidence is not yet sufficient to support either correction or retraction, NUSALEGIS may publish an Expression of Concern. Such a notice may remain associated with the article while the matter is investigated or until sufficient information becomes available for a final editorial action.

Where appropriate, the Editorial Team may request clarification, supporting documentation, original data, ethical approvals, authorship information, or other materials relevant to the investigation. Serious concerns may also be referred to an author's institution or another appropriate body where independent investigation is necessary.

Authors are expected to cooperate with legitimate editorial investigations and provide requested information in a timely and transparent manner. Failure to respond does not necessarily prevent the journal from taking appropriate editorial action when sufficient evidence is otherwise available.

NUSALEGIS seeks to avoid silent alteration or deletion of published scholarly material. Corrections, retractions, expressions of concern, and exceptional removals should be documented clearly so that readers can understand the history and current status of the publication.

The final decision regarding correction, withdrawal, retraction, expression of concern, or other post-publication editorial action rests with the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Team of NUSALEGIS: Journal of Legal Studies, following appropriate evaluation of the available evidence and applicable journal policies.