ELLITE: Journal of English Language, Literature, and Teaching is deeply committed to preserving the permanence, accuracy, and integrity of the published scholarly record across the disciplines of English language, linguistics, literature, and pedagogy. In strict compliance with the COPE Core Principles and the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, the Editorial Board assumes a fundamental duty to amend the published literature whenever significant errors, ethical breaches, or methodological flaws are identified. All post-publication amendments and pre-publication withdrawals are governed transparently by the COPE Retraction Guidelines and the official COPE Core Practices on Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections.

1. Overview of Amendment and Withdrawal Mechanisms

To maintain clarity for authors and readers, ELLITE distinguishes between four specific mechanisms for addressing manuscript withdrawals and post-publication amendments in accordance with the standardized definitions in the COPE Glossary of Publication Ethics:

2. Article Corrections (Corrigenda and Errata)

Whenever an author, reader, or editor discovers an honest factual, statistical, or attribution error in a published article that does not undermine the overall validity or conclusions of the study, ELLITE will publish a formal Correction notice as promptly as possible, adhering to COPE's Guidance on How to Correct a Published Paper and COPE's Standards on Errata and Corrections. In alignment with the definitions in the COPE Glossary of Publication Ethics, ELLITE classifies corrections into two categories: (a) a Corrigendum, which addresses an unintended error introduced by the author(s) (such as a mislabeled table, a minor calculation slip, or an approved post-publication authorship correction verified via COPE's Flowchart for Post-Publication Authorship Amendments); and (b) an Erratum, which addresses a production or layout error introduced by the journal during copyediting or typesetting. Each Correction notice is assigned its own Crossref DOI, is bidirectional-linked to the original article in OJS, and clearly specifies the exact modifications made to the text.

3. Expressions of Concern

If the Editorial Board receives credible allegations or detects inconclusive indicators of research or publication misconduct regarding a published article, but a definitive retraction or exoneration cannot yet be issued because an institutional investigation is ongoing or delayed, the Editor-in-Chief may publish an interim Expression of Concern in accordance with the COPE Official Retraction Guidelines Document. As outlined in COPE's Guidelines on Cooperation between Research Institutions and Journals on Research Integrity Cases, an Expression of Concern serves as a transparent provisional signal of uncertainty to protect readers while fair due process is conducted. Once the investigation concludes, the Expression of Concern will be permanently resolved and followed up by either a formal Retraction notice, a Correction, or an editorial notice of exoneration.

4. Article Retraction Policy and Procedure

Retraction is a formal mechanism for correcting the scholarly literature and alerting readers to articles that contain such seriously flawed or erroneous content or data that their findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon; as emphasized in the COPE Retraction Guidelines, the main purpose of retraction is to correct the literature and ensure its integrity rather than to punish authors who misbehave. The Editor-in-Chief of ELLITE will issue a Retraction if a thorough investigation conducted under COPE's Framework on Allegations of Misconduct establishes clear evidence of: (1) unreliable findings resulting from either major honest error (e.g., severe miscalculation or methodological invalidity) or intentional misconduct (e.g., data fabrication or falsification); (2) pervasive plagiarism or copyright infringement in violation of COPE's Core Practice on Intellectual Property; (3) redundant or duplicate publication without proper cross-referencing or justification; (4) research involving human subjects conducted unethically or without informed consent contrary to COPE's Core Practice on Ethical Oversight; (5) compromised or manipulated peer review identified through COPE's Flowchart on Suspected Peer Review Manipulation; or (6) failure to disclose a major competing interest that would have unduly influenced interpretations or editorial recommendations per COPE's Guidance on Conflicts of Interest.

Format and Visibility of Retraction Notices: In strict compliance with the COPE Position Statement on Issuing Retractions, every Retraction notice published by ELLITE will: (a) be clearly linked to the retracted article across all electronic versions and metadata indexes; (b) clearly identify the retracted article by including its title and authors in the retraction heading; (c) state who is retracting the article (whether the Editor-in-Chief, the publisher, the authors, or jointly) and provide an objective, factual, and non-defamatory explanation of the reasons for retraction; and (d) remain freely accessible to all readers without any paywall. As mandated by the COPE Position on Editorial Authority in Retractions, the final decision and wording of a retraction notice rest with the Editor-in-Chief, who will proceed with publication of the retraction notice even if some or all authors disagree or fail to respond. The original retracted article will not be completely deleted from the OJS archive; instead, its PDF and HTML pages will be permanently watermarked with "RETRACTED" across every page to preserve the historical record. If only a portion of a retracted article was compromised and the authors wish to republish the reliable components, they must transparently cite the retraction notice and follow the exact stipulations of the COPE Position Statement on Republishing Work Based on a Retracted Article.

5. Article Removal (Legal Exceptions) and Article Replacement

In an extremely limited number of cases, it may be necessary to completely remove a retracted article's full text from the online OJS database. Adhering strictly to the COPE Retraction Guidelines on Article Removal, complete removal of an article's text is executed only when the content is clearly defamatory, infringes others' legal rights, is the subject of an enforceable court order, or poses a severe, immediate privacy or safety risk to human research participants. In such circumstances, the metadata (Title and Authors) will be retained alongside a permanent notice stating that the article has been removed for legal reasons. Where an article contains a critical but honest error that would pose a serious risk if acted upon, authors may request to retract the flawed version and simultaneously replace it with a corrected version, in which case the retraction notice will link directly to the corrected republished version in compliance with the COPE Standards on Retraction and Republication.

6. Pre-Publication Manuscript Withdrawal Policy

ELLITE recognizes that authors may occasionally discover a fundamental scientific flaw in their manuscript or face unavoidable ethical circumstances prior to publication; however, unwarranted or arbitrary withdrawal wastes valuable editorial and peer-review resources invested by the journal. In strict alignment with COPE's Guidance on the Withdrawal of Papers at the Proof Stage and the COPE Code of Conduct, manuscripts cannot be unilaterally withdrawn by an author once the peer-review process has commenced or after the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) has been issued. Any request to withdraw a manuscript under review or in production must be submitted in writing to the Editor-in-Chief via a formal withdrawal letter signed by the Corresponding Author and all listed co-authors, stating compelling scholarly or ethical reasons, as required to prevent duplicate submission abuse under COPE's Standards on Duplicate Submission. Authors must not consider their manuscript withdrawn—nor submit it to another journal—until they receive an official written confirmation of withdrawal from the Editor-in-Chief. If a manuscript is withdrawn after the Letter of Acceptance (LoA) has been issued and the Article Publication Charge (APC) has been paid, the paid APC is strictly non-refundable.