Withdrawal Policy

The International Journal of Medical and Health Sciences Archives (IJMHSA) recognizes that authors may occasionally need to withdraw their manuscripts for valid reasons. To maintain the integrity of the academic record and uphold ethical publishing standards, the following withdrawal policy is enforced:

1. Pre-Review Withdrawal:

• Authors may request withdrawal before the peer review process begins without penalty.

• A formal written request must be submitted by the corresponding author, stating the reason for withdrawal.

• The editorial office will confirm withdrawal within 3–5 working days.

2. Post-Review or Post-Acceptance Withdrawal:

• Withdrawal requests after peer review or acceptance are discouraged.

• If a manuscript is withdrawn at this stage without sufficient justification, the authors may be blacklisted from future submissions for a specified period.

3. Unauthorized or Unethical Withdrawal:

• Manuscripts that are withdrawn without notifying the editorial office, or submitted to another journal concurrently, will be considered as a breach of publishing ethics.

• IJMHSA may report such cases to the authors’ affiliated institutions or relevant ethics committees.

4. Article Retraction (Post-Publication):

• If a published article requires removal due to errors, ethical violations, or author request, a formal retraction process will be initiated following COPE guidelines.

• The article will remain in the archive with a retraction notice explaining the reason.

5. Withdrawal Fees:

• A withdrawal fee may apply if the manuscript is in the advanced stages of editing or typesetting. This is to cover administrative and editorial efforts already incurred.