The journal ensures that all published articles follow the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Nursing Science Studies (NSS) is committed to maintaining the integrity of the academic record for all published and potential publications. Whenever a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement, or distorted report is identified, it will be corrected promptly and with due prominence. If, after appropriate investigation, a publication is found to be fraudulent or seriously flawed, it will be retracted. Any retraction will be clearly identifiable to readers and indexing systems.

Errors in published papers may be addressed through a corrigendum or erratum when the Editor-in-Chief considers it appropriate to inform the journal readership of a previous error and to correct the published record. The corrigendum or erratum will be published as a new item in the journal and will cite the original published article.

Retractions are considered and published when there are serious errors in an article that invalidate its conclusions. Retractions are also issued in cases of publication malpractice, such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, or unethical research.

In accordance with industry best practice and COPE guidelines, Nursing Science Studies (NSS) will implement the following procedure if a retraction is confirmed:

• A retraction note titled “Retraction: [article title]”, signed by the authors and/or the editor, will be published in a subsequent issue of the journal and listed in the table of contents.
• In the electronic version, a link will be provided to the original article.
• The online article will be preceded by a screen containing the retraction note. The link will resolve to this screen first, after which readers may proceed to the article itself.
• The original article will be retained unchanged except for a watermark on the HTML and PDF versions indicating on each page that the article has been “retracted.”

Where substantial doubt arises regarding the honesty or integrity of a submitted or published article, journal editors may consider issuing an editorial expression of concern. Such expressions should only be issued when an investigation into the concerns has proven inconclusive, but strong indicators remain that the concerns are valid.

In some exceptional cases, an editorial expression of concern may also be issued while an investigation is still underway, especially when a final judgement is not expected within a reasonable time.

Any editorial expression of concern will be clearly linked to the published article to which it relates.