Misconduct and Sanctions

Reporting and investigation

• Suspected breaches of publication ethics may be reported before or after publication, to editor@stanfordgroup.org. Anonymous reports are accepted.
• The editors investigate thoroughly. They may ask for the underlying data and may consult the authors' institution.

Rejection and removal of articles

• Violations include duplicate submission, fraudulent data, plagiarism, citation manipulation and false authorship.
• A manuscript not yet published is withdrawn, and the authors are notified.
• A published article is retracted in line with the COPE Retraction Guidelines.
• If authors do not respond to the journal's enquiries, the manuscript is treated as withdrawn.

Sanctions

Depending on how serious the case is, the journal may:

• refuse submissions from the authors for one to three years;
• bar those concerned from acting as editors or reviewers;
• report the matter to the authors' institution, employer or funding agency.

Corrections

• A minor, unintentional error by the authors is corrected by a corrigendum.
• An error by the publisher is corrected by an erratum.

See Corrections and Retractions. Cases are handled following the COPE flowcharts and guidance.