Administrative Article Withdrawal Policy

1. Transparency of Article Processing Charges

The applicable Article Processing Charge (APC), payment conditions, and relevant publishing terms must be disclosed to authors before publication.

The amount and general conditions of the APC are available on the Journal’s Article Processing Charge page.

Editorial assessment, peer review, and the decision to accept, revise, or reject a manuscript are independent of payment.

No payment is required as a condition for obtaining a favourable editorial or peer-review decision.

2. Prior Written Acceptance of the Payment Obligation

Administrative withdrawal may be applied only where the obligation to pay the applicable APC was expressly accepted in writing before publication.

The confirmed payer may be:

• the author or authors;
• the corresponding author acting on behalf of all authors;
• an affiliated institution that has expressly undertaken responsibility for payment;
• a research funder, project, or another organisation acting as the confirmed payer.

Written acceptance may be documented through:

• a signed publishing agreement;
• a signed manuscript submission form incorporating the applicable payment conditions;
• written confirmation from the corresponding author;
• written confirmation from the institution or organisation responsible for payment;
• another retrievable written record demonstrating acceptance of the amount, payment responsibility, and applicable deadline.

3. Publication Before the Payment Deadline

In individually agreed cases, an article may be published before payment of the APC where the confirmed payer has expressly undertaken in writing to complete payment by a specified deadline after publication.

Publication before payment does not cancel, replace, or otherwise affect the payment obligation accepted under the publishing agreement.

The editorial decision to accept the article remains independent of the subsequent contractual payment process.

4. Grounds for Administrative Withdrawal

Post-publication administrative withdrawal may be applied where all of the following conditions are met:

• the article has been accepted and published;
• the applicable APC and payment conditions were disclosed before publication;
• the author, authors, or another confirmed payer expressly accepted responsibility for payment in writing;
• a specific payment deadline was established;
• the agreed payment deadline has expired;
• the Publisher has issued the applicable invoice or other payment request;
• payment has not been received or confirmed;
• the confirmed payer has been sent a written reminder and provided with a reasonable additional period to complete payment or explain a possible payment error or contractual dispute.

Administrative withdrawal must not be applied solely because of an administrative misunderstanding, an unidentified payment, a banking delay supported by appropriate evidence, or another matter that can reasonably be resolved without suspending access to the article.

5. Notice and Additional Payment Period

Before administrative withdrawal is applied, the Publisher will send a written reminder to the confirmed payer.

The reminder will normally identify:

• the article concerned;
• the outstanding amount;
• the original payment deadline;
• the applicable invoice or payment request;
• the additional period allowed for payment;
• the possible application of administrative withdrawal if the obligation remains unfulfilled.

During this period, the confirmed payer may:

• complete payment;
• provide evidence that payment has already been made;
• request clarification of the invoice;
• identify a banking or administrative error;
• provide information concerning a contractual dispute;
• request a justified extension of the payment period.

An extension may be granted where justified by the circumstances and confirmed by the Publisher in writing.

6. Administrative Closure Before Publication

Where the payment obligation is not fulfilled before publication and no written arrangement providing for payment after publication has been approved, the Publisher may suspend production or close the accepted manuscript file.

Such action concerns an accepted manuscript that has not yet been published and does not constitute:

• post-publication administrative withdrawal;
• retraction;
• article removal;
• a determination concerning the scientific validity or integrity of the research.

Where no Version of Record has been published, a public Administrative Withdrawal Notice is not normally required.

7. Post-Publication Administrative Withdrawal

Where an article has already been published on the basis of an expressly accepted post-publication payment arrangement, and the payment obligation remains unfulfilled after the applicable reminder and additional payment period, the Publisher may apply post-publication administrative withdrawal.

Post-publication administrative withdrawal means that access to the full text hosted directly on the Journal’s publishing platform is suspended.

It does not mean that:

• the article has been retracted for scientific or ethical reasons;
• the research has been found invalid, unreliable, unethical, or fraudulent;
• the editorial acceptance decision has been reversed;
• the DOI has been cancelled or deactivated;
• the bibliographic record has been deleted;
• the Creative Commons licence previously applied to the article has been revoked.

8. Nature of Administrative Withdrawal

Administrative withdrawal:

• is contractual and administrative in nature;
• results solely from non-fulfilment of a payment obligation expressly accepted before publication;
• does not constitute a retraction;
• does not indicate scientific misconduct;
• does not affect the scholarly assessment previously conducted by the Journal;
• does not imply that the article is scientifically invalid, unethical, or unreliable;
• does not replace any procedure applicable to research-integrity or publication-ethics concerns.

Administrative withdrawal must be clearly distinguished from corrections, retractions, Expressions of Concern, and article removal.

9. Preservation of the Scholarly Record

To ensure transparency and prevent the publication record from being obscured:

• the DOI registered for the article will remain active;
• the DOI will continue to resolve to the article landing page;
• the article landing page will remain publicly accessible;
• the bibliographic metadata will remain available;
• the title and authorship information will remain available;
• the applicable licence information will remain available;
• the article will be clearly identified as administratively withdrawn;
• a public Administrative Withdrawal Notice will explain the reason for the administrative measure.

Where the article is listed in an issue or Table of Contents, its administrative status should be identifiable from the corresponding article record or landing page.

10. Access to Article Content After Administrative Withdrawal

Following post-publication administrative withdrawal:

• access to the full text hosted directly on the Journal’s publishing platform will be suspended;
• the downloadable PDF hosted by the Journal will no longer be available;
• the article landing page will remain accessible;
• the DOI, bibliographic metadata, authorship information, licence information, and Administrative Withdrawal Notice will remain permanently available.

Administrative withdrawal does not revoke the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence already applied to the article and does not invalidate uses of copies obtained in accordance with that licence.

The measure concerns access to the full text hosted by the Publisher and does not constitute cancellation of the article’s DOI, bibliographic existence, or previously granted licence.

11. Administrative Withdrawal Status and Notice

A published article subject to this policy will be marked as follows:

The landing page will contain the following notice:

The notice will be dated and will contain a direct link to this policy.

12. Publisher and Editorial Responsibility

Administrative withdrawal is a contractual decision made by the Publisher after verification of:

• the applicable publishing agreement or other written confirmation;
• the identity of the confirmed payer;
• the APC amount;
• the invoice or payment request;
• the agreed payment deadline;
• the written reminder;
• the additional payment period;
• the available payment records;
• any explanation or evidence submitted by the confirmed payer.

The Editorial Office may provide relevant administrative records but does not reconsider the scholarly merits of the article.

The Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, and peer reviewers do not determine whether the contractual payment obligation has been fulfilled and do not reassess the scientific quality of the article as part of the administrative withdrawal procedure.

Administrative withdrawal does not alter the independence or substance of the editorial decision by which the article was accepted.

13. Review of an Administrative Withdrawal Decision

Before or after administrative withdrawal is applied, the confirmed payer may request a review where they believe that:

• payment was completed but not correctly identified;
• the amount or deadline was recorded incorrectly;
• the payment obligation was not accepted by the person or institution identified as the payer;
• the administrative withdrawal resulted from a banking or technical error;
• another material contractual or administrative error occurred.

A request for review must be submitted in writing to the Publisher and should include relevant supporting documentation.

The Publisher will examine the available contractual and payment records and communicate the outcome in writing.

A contractual review under this section is separate from the Journal’s procedure for scholarly Complaints and Appeals.