Withdrawal and Post-Publication Amendments Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Occupational Therapy and Health (PJOTH) recognizes that circumstances may arise requiring authors to withdraw a manuscript during the editorial or publication process, or to request corrections post-publication. The journal follows the ethical standards recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in handling manuscript withdrawals, corrections, retractions, and removals.

Withdrawal of Manuscripts

Authors may request withdrawal of their manuscript at any stage of the editorial process—whether during initial editorial screening, peer review, revision, or even after acceptance but before final publication. However, such requests must be made in good faith and as early as possible, recognizing the significant time and effort invested by editors and peer reviewers.

To formally request withdrawal:

The corresponding author must email the PJOTH editorial office, clearly stating the reason for withdrawal.

The editorial office will issue a Manuscript Withdrawal Form that must be signed by all listed authors.

The completed and scanned form must be returned to the editorial office.

Electronic or digital signatures are not accepted; all authors must provide manual handwritten signatures.

The withdrawal request will be reviewed by the editorial team. Authors will receive a written response indicating acceptance or rejection of the withdrawal.
Authors should not assume their manuscript is withdrawn until they receive a formal confirmation from PJOTH.

Submissions of the same manuscript to another journal prior to official withdrawal confirmation may be deemed an ethical violation and subject to sanctions.

Post-Publication Revisions and Corrections

PJOTH may permit changes to published content under carefully regulated circumstances to protect the integrity of the scholarly record. Any post-publication modifications will follow COPE’s guidelines and include a permanent notice linked to the original article.

Types of allowable changes include:

Amendments

Amendments refer to minor corrections that do not affect the scientific integrity of the article (e.g., typographical errors or minor metadata inaccuracies).

Allowed only within 48 hours of publication and prior to indexing.
Changes may be made directly to the PDF and HTML versions with a note appended to inform readers.
In-line edits are prohibited once indexing has occurred, to maintain version integrity.

Correction Articles

A Correction Notice is issued when changes are needed that may impact understanding of the article, but not its overall scholarly conclusions. These may include:

Errors in figure labels or legends
Omissions related to funding sources or conflict of interest disclosures

PJOTH distinguishes between:

Corrigendum: Errors introduced by the author(s)
Erratum: Errors introduced by the publisher or journal

Correction notices are formally published and linked to the original article.

Retraction Articles

A retraction is used to formally withdraw a published article when the scientific content is proven to be invalid, unethical, or misleading. Retractions may result from:

Fabricated or falsified data
Redundant or duplicate publication
Plagiarism
Unethical research practices

The original article will:

Be watermarked “Retracted”

Include a prefix in the title: “Retracted article:”
Remain accessible to preserve the scholarly record

Retractions are corrective measures, not punitive actions. Authorship disputes are not generally grounds for retraction; these are typically addressed through a Corrigendum.

Removal or Withdrawal Post-Publication

In exceptional cases, an article may be removed entirely from PJOTH Online, such as when:

The content is defamatory
It infringes legal rights

In such cases, a Removal Notice will be published in place of the original article, documenting the rationale for removal.

Exceptions and Privacy Concerns

Where cases involve legal, privacy, or ethical complexities, PJOTH will handle them on a case-by-case basis, applying the above protocols as closely as feasible. PJOTH reserves the right to determine what constitutes a major or minor correction, or whether a correction, retraction, or removal is warranted.

Author and Editorial Responsibilities

To minimize post-publication changes, PJOTH requires that:

Authors are given the opportunity to sign off on final drafts and metadata before typesetting.
Editors verify all final content before submission to indexing.
Authors review PDF proofs thoroughly to catch layout errors or typographical issues—this stage is not intended for content revision.