Retraction Policy

Creative Saplings is committed to maintaining the integrity and completeness of the scholarly record. The journal takes all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of published content and responds swiftly and transparently to any evidence of errors, fraud, or ethical violations in published articles. This Retraction Policy is issued in full compliance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Retraction Guidelines and represents the journal's binding procedure for all cases requiring retraction, expression of concern, or correction.

Retractions, corrections, and expressions of concern are issued in the interests of readers and the research community — not as punishments for authors. The journal applies this policy consistently, equitably, and without regard to the identity, seniority, or institutional affiliation of the authors concerned.

Grounds for Retraction

An article may be retracted when there is clear evidence of any of the following:

Ground Description
Plagiarism The article contains substantial unattributed text, data, or ideas from another source.
Data Fabrication or Falsification Research data, results, or findings have been fabricated, manipulated, or selectively reported in a misleading manner.
Duplicate Publication The article has been published previously in the same or substantially similar form in another journal or publication without disclosure.
Undisclosed Conflict of Interest A significant conflict of interest that would have affected the editorial decision was concealed at the time of submission.
Ethical Violations The research involved human or animal subjects and was conducted without proper ethical approval, or consent was improperly obtained.
Authorship Disputes The authorship of the article is fundamentally contested and cannot be resolved, or ghost/gift authorship is confirmed.
Unreliable Findings Major errors in the article render its findings or conclusions unreliable and the errors cannot be corrected by a corrigendum or erratum.
AI-Generated Content The article is found to have been substantially generated by AI tools, in violation of the journal's submission policy, without disclosure.

Note: Retraction is not used to penalise honest error where a correction or erratum is sufficient.
§  Retraction Procedure: Step by Step
1

Concern Raised

A concern may be raised by the authors themselves, a reader, a reviewer, an institutional investigation, or identified internally by the editorial team. Concerns should be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief at editor@creativesaplings.in with all available evidence.
2

Preliminary Assessment (within 7 days)

The Editor-in-Chief conducts a preliminary assessment of the concern. If the concern appears credible, the corresponding author is notified and invited to respond within 14 days. The article is not retracted or annotated at this stage without clear justification.
3

Investigation

Where necessary, the matter is referred to the journal's Complaint Handling Committee or, in cases of serious misconduct, to the author's employing institution. The investigation is conducted impartially and confidentially. The journal follows the applicable COPE flowcharts throughout this process.
4

Expression of Concern (if applicable)

If an investigation is ongoing and readers need to be alerted that the reliability of the article is in question, the Editor-in-Chief may publish a linked Expression of Concern. This is published with the article's DOI and is clearly labelled.
5

Decision

Following the investigation, the Editor-in-Chief issues one of four decisions: (a) No action required — the concern is not substantiated; (b) Correction / Erratum / Corrigendum — the article contains a correctable error; (c) Expression of Concern — the matter is unresolved but readers must be informed; or (d) Retraction — the article meets one or more grounds listed above.
6

Implementation of Retraction

Where retraction is decided, the article is annotated with a clearly dated Retraction Notice linked to the original article's DOI. The article's PDF is marked with a visible "RETRACTED" watermark. The retraction notice states: the title and authors of the retracted article; the reason(s) for retraction; the date of retraction; who initiated the retraction; and whether the authors agree with the retraction. The article itself is not removed from the journal website — the scholarly record is preserved, with the retraction permanently and visibly linked.
§ Corrections, Errata, and Corrigenda

Not all errors in published work require retraction. Where an error is honest, does not affect the reliability of the conclusions, and can be corrected without undermining the integrity of the article, the journal will publish a correction notice in place of a retraction:

Type Used When
Erratum The error was introduced by the journal (e.g., typesetting, copy-editing, or production error).
Corrigendum The error was introduced by the author(s) (e.g., a factual error, incorrect citation, or minor data error).
Addendum A legitimate addition to the published article that clarifies or supplements (but does not correct) the original findings.

All correction notices are linked to the original article and assigned a publication date. They are permanently accessible alongside the original.
§  Consequences of Confirmed Misconduct

Where misconduct is confirmed, the journal may take one or more of the following additional actions, in proportion to the severity of the violation:

●  Permanent barring of the author(s) from submitting to Creative Saplings.

●  Formal notification of the author's employing institution and/or funding body.

●  Notification of other journals in which the same author has published, where there is evidence of a pattern of misconduct.

●  Reporting of the case to COPE for guidance or as an anonymised case study.

●  Legal action, where the misconduct constitutes a breach of law (e.g., copyright infringement, fraud).
§  How to Report a Concern

Concerns about published articles — including suspected plagiarism, data errors, duplicate publication, or authorship disputes — should be submitted in writing to:

Editor-in-Chief, Creative Saplings

Dr. Alka Sharma, Associate Professor of English, Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi

Email: editor@creativesaplings.in  |  Subject line: Retraction Concern — [Article Title]

All concerns are treated in strict confidence. The identity of the person raising the concern will not be disclosed to the authors under investigation without their explicit consent.

COPE Compliance:  This Retraction Policy is issued in full compliance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Retraction Guidelines (publicationethics.org/retraction-guidelines). In all cases not explicitly covered by this policy, the journal follows the applicable COPE guidance and flowcharts as its authoritative reference.  |  COPE website: publicationethics.org