This policy applies exclusively to articles in press, defined as accepted manuscripts that have not yet been formally published and therefore do not possess complete volume, issue, or pagination details. Such early versions may occasionally contain substantive errors or, in rare cases, involve violations of professional and academic ethical standards, including but not limited to multiple submissions, false claims of authorship, plagiarism, or the fabrication or manipulation of data.

Articles in press that are found to contain significant errors, constitute inadvertent duplication of previously published work, or violate the publication ethics of the Journal of Digital Sharia and Contemporary Legal Thought, as determined by the editors, may be withdrawn prior to formal publication.

Article withdrawal entails the removal of the article’s content (HTML and PDF) from public access and its replacement with a withdrawal notice in both formats. This notice shall state that the article has been withdrawn in accordance with the Journal of Digital Sharia and Contemporary Legal Thought Policy on Articles in Press Withdrawal and shall include a reference to the applicable policy document.

Article Retraction

Article retractions address serious breaches of professional and academic ethics, including multiple submissions, false claims of authorship, plagiarism, or fraudulent use of data. Retractions may also be issued to correct substantial errors that undermine the validity, reliability, or legal and normative implications of a published work, particularly in studies related to Islamic law, legal reasoning, and digitally mediated regulatory or ethical frameworks.

The retraction of an article—whether initiated by the authors or by the editor in consultation with the scholarly community—is a well-established mechanism in academic publishing. The Journal of Digital Sharia and Contemporary Legal Thought adheres to best practices developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), including the following procedures:

• A retraction notice entitled “Retraction: [Article Title]”, signed by the author(s) and/or the editor, is published in a subsequent issue of the journal and listed in the table of contents.

• In the electronic version of the journal, a direct link is provided to the original article.

• The online article is preceded by a retraction notice screen, which serves as the primary access point before readers may view the original text.

• The original article remains accessible for the scholarly record but is clearly identified as retracted through a visible watermark on each page of the PDF indicating its retracted status.

• The HTML version of the article is removed to prevent uncontextualized citation or use.

Article Removal: Legal and Ethical Limitations

In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to remove an article entirely from the journal’s online platform. This action is taken only when the content is defamatory, infringes upon legal rights, violates applicable laws or regulations, is subject to or anticipated to be subject to a court order, or—if acted upon—may pose a serious legal, ethical, or societal risk, particularly in relation to sharia-based legal interpretation, public policy, or digital governance.

In such cases, the article’s bibliographic metadata (including title and author information) is retained to preserve the scholarly record, while the full text is replaced with a notice indicating that the article has been removed for legal or ethical reasons.

Article Replacement

If an article is found to contain errors that, if relied upon, could result in serious legal, ethical, or societal consequences, the authors may elect to retract the flawed version and replace it with a corrected and substantively revised version. In such cases, standard retraction procedures apply, with the distinction that the retraction notice includes a direct link to the corrected article, along with a transparent and documented revision history.

Reference

Adapted from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Retraction Guidelines (Version 3, 2025).