Expressions Of Concern

Post-Publication

Expressions of Concern Policy

Journal of Accounting and Management (JAM) | e-ISSN 3048-345X

Journal of Accounting and Management (JAM) may publish an Expression of Concern when credible information raises a potentially serious question about a published article, but the available evidence is not yet sufficient for a correction or retraction and readers should be alerted while assessment or investigation continues. An Expression of Concern is an interim notice, not a finding of misconduct or a final editorial decision.

AlertReaders receive a visible warning about a concern that may affect the reliability, ethics, or integrity of the record.

InvestigateThe journal preserves evidence, checks conflicts, seeks responses, and may refer matters to competent institutions.

ResolveThe interim notice is reviewed and replaced or supplemented by a reasoned final outcome.

1. Purpose and Scope

This policy applies after publication to articles, reviews, supplementary materials, and related journal content. Its purpose is to protect readers and the scholarly record when a potentially material concern remains unresolved. It governs only the decision, publication, review, and resolution of an Expression of Concern.

Minor repairable errors are handled under the Corrections and Errata Policy. Articles whose principal findings are demonstrated to be unreliable are handled under the Retraction Policy.

2. When an Expression of Concern May Be Issued

JAM may issue an Expression of Concern when one or more of the following conditions apply and reader notification is proportionate to the risk:

credible but inconclusive evidence suggests fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, manipulated peer review, unethical research, authorship abuse, or an undisclosed competing interest;
there is reason to doubt the reliability of data, analysis, images, methods, results, or conclusions, but the scope or effect cannot yet be determined;
the authors’ institution, employer, ethics committee, funder, regulator, or another competent body is investigating and a reliable outcome is not expected promptly;
an investigation appears unavailable, substantially delayed, procedurally inadequate, conflicted, or unlikely to reach a reliable conclusion;
authors do not provide data, documentation, permissions, ethics records, or another material response needed to verify the published work;
a serious legal, privacy, consent, copyright, safety, or public-interest concern requires an interim warning while specialist advice is obtained; or
conflicting evidence prevents a prompt decision between no action, correction, retraction, or another post-publication response.

3. When It Is Not Normally Appropriate

Situation	Appropriate Route
Minor or repairable published error	Publish a correction or erratum.
Academic disagreement or later evidence	Use correspondence, commentary, replication, or a new article unless reliability is genuinely in question.
Unsupported or plainly malicious allegation	Assess confidentially; do not stigmatize an article without credible evidence.
Principal findings are established as unreliable	Retract rather than leave an indefinite interim notice.

4. Reporting a Concern

Authors, readers, reviewers, editors, institutions, funders, and other parties may report a concern through JAM’s official contact page using the subject line “Post-Publication Concern”. A report should identify the article and DOI, describe the specific concern and its location, explain its possible effect on the record, and include verifiable supporting evidence.

Anonymous reports may be assessed when sufficiently specific and verifiable. The identity of a good-faith reporter will be restricted to persons who need it for fair assessment, subject to law and research-integrity obligations. JAM does not require a reporter to prove misconduct before a concern is assessed.

5. Assessment and Decision Process

Receipt and TriageJAM normally acknowledges a sufficiently identified report within seven working days and assesses urgency, specificity, possible harm, and the applicable policy.

Independence and Evidence PreservationA conflicted person is recused. Relevant article versions, files, metadata, peer-review records, correspondence, data, and submitted evidence are preserved.

Author and Relevant-Party ResponseAuthors and other affected parties normally receive the material concern and a reasonable opportunity to respond. Confidential details may be limited when disclosure creates legal, privacy, safety, or investigation risk.

Independent Advice or ReferralThe editor may seek methodological, statistical, ethical, legal, or technical advice and may refer matters requiring formal investigation to an institution or competent authority.

Interim Risk DecisionThe unconflicted Editor-in-Chief or assigned senior editor decides whether an Expression of Concern is necessary, considering evidence strength, seriousness, likely delay, reader risk, fairness, and proportionality.

Publication, Monitoring, and ResolutionThe notice is published and linked, the inquiry is monitored, and a final action is taken when sufficient reliable evidence becomes available.

Author agreement is desirable but is not required to warn readers when the evidence and risk justify an interim notice. The notice may state that authors disagree or did not respond.

6. Contents and Publication of the Notice

An Expression of Concern is a citable journal notice. It will normally:

be titled “Expression of Concern: [title of the original article]” and identify the article, authors, publication details, and DOI;
describe the nature and status of the concern in factual, neutral, and non-defamatory language;
distinguish allegations, verified facts, unresolved questions, and any institutional investigation;
state who raised or is assessing the concern when disclosure is appropriate, and identify author disagreement or non-response where relevant;
explain why an interim warning is necessary and state that no final conclusion has yet been reached;
show its publication date, issuing authority, and applicable license, and receive a DOI when supported by JAM’s registration workflow;
be linked bidirectionally with the article and displayed prominently on the landing page and all accessible versions; and
be registered as a related update in Crossref and communicated to relevant indexing and preservation services where applicable.

No silent labels or hidden editsThe original article normally remains accessible. JAM will not alter the article, metadata, or PDF in a way that conceals the concern. Any lawful removal is governed by the Retraction or Content Removal provisions and leaves an appropriate public record.

7. Review and Final Outcomes

The responsible editor will review the status whenever material evidence is received and, for a continuing inquiry, normally at intervals not exceeding six months where feasible. A delay will not be used to leave an interim notice unresolved indefinitely.

Publish a resolution notice and remove the warning from the article display when the concern is not substantiated

Publish a correction or erratum when the article remains reliable after repair

Retract the article when its central findings or integrity are unreliable

Update the Expression of Concern when the scope or status changes but a final conclusion remains unavailable

The original Expression of Concern remains part of the publication history and is linked to the final notice. DOI relationships and metadata will be updated so that readers can follow the complete record.

8. Fairness, Confidentiality, and Appeals

JAM applies conflict management, confidentiality, due process, evidence-based assessment, and proportionality. No person will be disadvantaged for reporting a concern in good faith. Deliberately false allegations, fabricated evidence, threats, or harassment may be addressed separately after fair assessment.

A directly affected party may challenge a material factual error, conflict, overlooked evidence, or serious procedural defect through JAM’s Appeals and Complaints Policy. An appeal does not automatically suspend a reader-protection notice.