Journal of Decision Support Systems and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (JODESMA) may retract a published article when reliable evidence demonstrates that the article contains serious problems that substantially affect its validity, integrity, or reliability.

Retraction is intended to correct the scholarly record and alert readers that the findings or content of an article should no longer be considered reliable in its published form.

Retraction does not necessarily imply that the authors acted deliberately or fraudulently. An article may be retracted because of honest errors, research misconduct, ethical violations, or other circumstances that materially compromise the reliability of the publication.

An article may be considered for retraction when there is credible evidence of serious problems, including but not limited to:

• Fabrication of research data.
• Falsification or manipulation of data.
• Substantial plagiarism.
• Duplicate or redundant publication.
• Serious methodological errors that invalidate the findings.
• Major errors that cannot be adequately addressed through a correction.
• Fabricated or manipulated figures.
• Serious ethical violations.
• Unauthorized use of confidential or protected information.
• Inappropriate authorship or fraudulent attribution.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest that materially affect the work.
• Manipulated peer review.
• Substantial violations of research ethics.
• Publication based on fraudulent or unreliable information.
• Other circumstances that make the published findings substantially unreliable.

Before retracting an article, Journal of Decision Support Systems and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (JODESMA) will assess the available evidence and, where appropriate, contact the authors for an explanation.

The journal may request:

• Original research data.
• Methodological documentation.
• Ethical approval documentation.
• Authorship information.
• Clarification of publication history.
• Source files.
• Explanations concerning figures or tables.
• Other relevant evidence.

Where appropriate, the journal may consult independent experts, members of the editorial board, institutions, or relevant research integrity bodies.

Authors will normally be given an opportunity to respond to concerns before a final retraction decision is made.

Failure of an author to respond does not necessarily prevent the journal from proceeding when sufficient evidence exists to justify action.

A retraction will be accompanied by a formal retraction notice.

The notice should clearly state:

• The title of the retracted article.
• The authors.
• The publication information.
• The DOI.
• The date of retraction.
• The reason for the retraction.
• The relationship between the notice and the original article.

The notice should be publicly accessible and linked to the original article.

Journal of Decision Support Systems and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (JODESMA) will normally preserve the original article as part of the scholarly record rather than deleting it completely.

The article will be clearly identified as RETRACTED, and the retraction notice will be prominently linked to it.

This approach preserves the publication history while preventing readers from mistakenly treating the article as a valid, unaffected publication.

A retracted article may remain visible for scholarly record and transparency purposes. However, readers should be clearly informed that the article has been retracted.

Where technically possible, metadata associated with the article will indicate its retracted status.

A retraction indicates that the published article should no longer be relied upon in its current form. It does not, by itself, establish that every author engaged in misconduct.

Where misconduct is suspected, Journal of Decision Support Systems and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (JODESMA) will distinguish between the reliability of the article and the determination of individual responsibility.

If Journal of Decision Support Systems and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (JODESMA) ceases publication, previously published articles remain part of the scholarly record. Where a serious issue is subsequently identified, the journal or an appropriate successor or preservation arrangement may issue or maintain a retraction notice where feasible.