Manuscript Withdrawal Policy

Multidisciplinary Journals (MJ)  |  e-ISSN 3047-8499

1. Scope and Policy Boundaries

This policy applies from the date a manuscript is submitted through OJS until the article is formally published online. It governs an author-initiated request to stop editorial processing and does not govern rejection by an editor, administrative closure by the journal, or corrective action after publication.

2. Responsible Withdrawal

Authors should submit only manuscripts that they are prepared to keep under consideration until an editorial decision is made. A withdrawal request may nevertheless be appropriate for reasons including:

• discovery of a substantial error that requires major reworking or makes the submission unreliable;
• a material authorship, ethical, consent, permission, legal, or data-availability problem;
• an unresolved conflict among authors regarding submission or publication;
• a serious change in circumstances that prevents the authors from completing required revisions; or
• another clearly explained reason accepted as a good-faith request.

3. How to Request Withdrawal

The corresponding author should submit the request through the OJS discussion function connected to the manuscript. If OJS is temporarily unavailable, the request may be sent through the journal's official contact page. Requests sent only to a personal telephone number, personal email account, or unofficial social-media account are not considered an adequate journal record.

When the authors do not agree, the journal may place editorial processing on hold and request signed statements or refer the dispute to the relevant institution. The journal is not responsible for determining contribution, employment, or ownership disputes that require evidence beyond the editorial record.

4. Journal Review and Confirmation

5. Withdrawal at Different Editorial Stages

6. Fees, Penalties, and Refunds

• No withdrawal penalty: MJ does not impose a financial penalty merely because an author submits a good-faith withdrawal request.
• No payment condition: recording a valid withdrawal will not be made conditional on payment of a penalty.
• No automatic blacklist: an author or institution will not be automatically banned because of a good-faith withdrawal request.
• Separate financial policy: any question concerning an APC already invoiced or paid, a waiver, or a refund is handled only under the journal's published APC, Waiver, and Refund Policy. Payment status does not determine the editorial assessment of a withdrawal request.

7. Suspected Misconduct and Repeated Misuse

Withdrawal does not prevent MJ from completing a proportionate assessment of suspected publication misconduct. When credible evidence indicates duplicate submission, falsification, plagiarism, authorship manipulation, peer-review manipulation, or another serious breach, the journal may preserve relevant records, request explanations, and refer the matter to another journal, institution, ethics committee, funder, or competent authority when justified and consistent with confidentiality and due process.

Repeated bad-faith submissions or withdrawals may lead to proportionate editorial safeguards only after evidence review, notice to the affected person, an opportunity to respond, and a reasoned decision. Any restriction must be limited in scope and duration and must not automatically extend to uninvolved co-authors or an entire institution.

8. Effect of Withdrawal and Record Keeping

• MJ will cease editorial consideration and will not publish the withdrawn manuscript.
• A withdrawn submission is not treated as a published article and will not receive a publication DOI from MJ.
• The journal retains a proportionate confidential administrative record in OJS for audit, integrity, dispute-resolution, and legal purposes under its Privacy Statement.
• The manuscript and peer-review materials remain confidential and will not be used by editors or reviewers for personal advantage.
• Authors should normally wait for written confirmation before submitting the manuscript elsewhere. MJ will not use silence or unreasonable delay to prevent a good-faith resubmission; authors should preserve their dated withdrawal request and follow-up correspondence.

9. Appeals and Questions

An author may challenge a procedural decision or unreasonable delay under the journal's Appeals and Complaints Policy. Questions and requests should be submitted through OJS or the official journal contact page.