Withdrawal Policy

The SAPS is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic publishing integrity. We recognize the importance of a transparent post-publication policy to address honest errors, ethical issues, or publication misconduct. This policy outlines our procedures for withdrawals in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

A withdrawal is considered when the manuscript has been submitted but not yet published, and the authors request to withdraw it, or when ethical concerns arise before publication.

Permitted Cases for Withdrawal:
• Duplicate submission to another journal
• Author error or decision to revise significantly
• Discovery of serious flaws in the manuscript post-submission
• Authorship conflicts

Withdrawal Procedure:
• Authors must submit a formal withdrawal request via email, signed by all co-authors.
• If the manuscript is in the peer review process, withdrawal is allowed only before acceptance.

Once accepted or published, the article can no longer be withdrawn; it can only be retracted post-publication with proper justification.

Unethical withdrawal (e.g., during peer review without valid reason) may lead to blacklisting of the authors for future submissions.

General Post-Publication Ethics Statement
SAPS follows the best practices of COPE, ICMJE, and CrossRef to ensure post-publication integrity. We encourage readers, authors, and editors to report any concerns related to published content by contacting the Editor-in-Chief. All reported problems will be thoroughly reviewed and addressed in accordance with due process.