Withdrawal Policy
1. Purpose The Eco AgriTech Frontiers Journal (EATFJ) aims to maintain a fair, transparent, and efficient publication process. This Withdrawal Policy outlines the conditions under which authors can withdraw their manuscript from consideration for publication, the procedure for doing so, and the circumstances under which the journal may withdraw a manuscript after submission or publication.
2. Withdrawal Before Peer Review Authors may withdraw their manuscript from consideration at any stage before the peer review process begins, without any consequences. To do so, authors must submit a formal withdrawal request to the editorial team at [journal’s contact email], providing the following information:
- Manuscript title
- Authors’ names
- Reason for withdrawal
Upon receipt of the withdrawal request, the editorial team will confirm the withdrawal and notify the authors. There will be no charges or penalties associated with withdrawing a manuscript before peer review.
3. Withdrawal After Peer Review If the manuscript has been assigned to reviewers but has not yet been accepted for publication, authors may still request a withdrawal. However, the following conditions apply:
- Request Process: Authors must submit a written request to withdraw their manuscript, including the manuscript title, reasons for withdrawal, and any relevant details.
- Timing: Authors are encouraged to make their withdrawal requests as early as possible. The journal will attempt to accommodate the request, but if the manuscript has already undergone substantial review or editorial processing, the withdrawal may be subject to further review.
While the manuscript will be withdrawn from the review process, any work done up to that point (e.g., reviewer feedback) will be retained.
4. Withdrawal After Acceptance Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, withdrawal is generally not permitted. However, authors may request withdrawal under exceptional circumstances, such as:
- Significant ethical concerns discovered post-acceptance (e.g., misconduct or data integrity issues).
- Legal or contractual issues that prevent publication.
- Author requests due to unforeseen circumstances (e.g., personal emergency).
To request withdrawal at this stage, authors must submit a written request detailing the reasons for the withdrawal. The request will be reviewed by the editorial team, and if approved, the manuscript may be retracted before publication. Any incurred publication fees (e.g., APCs) will not be refunded.
5. Withdrawal After Publication Once an article has been published (either in print or online), the journal will not accept withdrawal requests, except in cases of serious ethical issues or violations such as:
- Proven plagiarism or data fabrication.
- Failure to comply with ethical research guidelines (e.g., lack of proper consent or ethical approval).
- Authorial dispute or false authorship claims.
In such cases, the manuscript may be retracted rather than withdrawn. A retraction notice will be published in the journal, explaining the reason for retraction and ensuring transparency in the record.
6. Author’s Responsibility Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscript is not under consideration for publication elsewhere and that no ethical or legal barriers prevent its publication. If authors decide to withdraw their manuscript after submitting it to EATFJ, they must promptly notify the editorial team to avoid wasting reviewer resources.
7. Editorial Team's Right to Withdraw In certain circumstances, the Eco AgriTech Frontiers Journal reserves the right to withdraw a manuscript from consideration, even if the authors have not requested withdrawal. These circumstances may include, but are not limited to:
- Failure to adhere to submission guidelines.
- Ethical concerns, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, or conflicts of interest.
- Inaccurate or fraudulent data.
- Unresponsiveness from the authors during the review or revision process.
In such cases, the editorial team will notify the authors of the withdrawal and the reasons behind it.
8. Refund Policy If a manuscript is withdrawn before the acceptance stage, any paid Article Processing Charges (APCs) will be refunded in full. However, APCs paid after acceptance and any other non-refundable fees (such as for editorial or production services) will not be refunded.
