Current-record principle: AJSS does not make silent, substantive changes to published scholarly content. Material post-publication changes are documented through a dated notice, linked to the affected article, and reflected in the relevant DOI metadata.
1. Purpose and scope
This policy explains how the Alvan Journal of Social Sciences (AJSS) maintains the accuracy, integrity, transparency, and permanence of its published record. It applies to all scholarly content published by AJSS, including research articles, review papers, case studies, policy and technical papers, conceptual papers, editorials, and supplementary material.
The policy should be read with the journal’s publication-ethics, peer-review, authorship, plagiarism, conflict-of-interest, copyright, licensing, and complaints policies.
2. Crossmark commitment
AJSS has adopted this policy to support participation in Crossmark, a Crossref service that enables readers to check the current status of published content. When Crossmark is fully implemented, AJSS will display the Crossmark button on all newly published digital formats covered by the service, whether or not an article has been changed. Back-file implementation may be undertaken progressively.
For each item covered by Crossmark, AJSS will:
- maintain the published content and its DOI metadata;
- register editorially significant post-publication updates promptly;
- link an update notice to the affected article and, where applicable, link the article back to the notice;
- display the status of corrected, retracted, withdrawn, removed, or otherwise updated content clearly; and
- include the DOI of this policy page in the Crossmark metadata deposited for AJSS content.
3. Editorial controls before publication
Before publication, manuscripts undergo editorial screening, originality and similarity checks, ethical-compliance review, and double-anonymous peer review by appropriately qualified reviewers. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their work, complete disclosure of conflicts and funding, appropriate authorship, reliable data, necessary ethical approval, and permission to reproduce third-party material.
These controls reduce errors but do not eliminate the possibility that a legitimate concern may arise after publication. AJSS therefore treats post-publication review as part of responsible scholarly publishing.
4. Reporting a concern
Authors, readers, reviewers, institutions, research participants, and other interested persons may report a concern about published AJSS content. A report should identify the article title and DOI, explain the concern precisely, and provide supporting evidence or links where available.
Reports should be sent to ajsspubalvan.owerri@gmail.com with the subject line “Post-publication concern – [article DOI or title]”. Good-faith concerns will be considered irrespective of the complainant’s identity. Anonymous reports may be assessed when they contain specific, verifiable evidence.
AJSS will handle personal information confidentially as far as possible, subject to fairness, legal duties, institutional investigations, and the need to correct the scholarly record.
5. Assessment and decision-making
The Editor-in-Chief, or an independent editor appointed where a conflict exists, will conduct an initial assessment. AJSS may request an explanation, source data, ethical approvals, authorship records, or other relevant material from authors and may consult reviewers, subject specialists, the authors’ institution, funders, or competent authorities.
Decisions will be evidence-based, proportionate to the reliability and integrity of the affected work, and guided by applicable Crossref and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) principles. The purpose of an update is to keep the scholarly record accurate—not to punish authors. Where evidence of possible misconduct requires institutional authority, AJSS may refer the matter to the appropriate institution while taking any interim action necessary to protect readers.
6. Types of post-publication update
AJSS will select the update label that most accurately describes the action. Crossmark metadata may use Crossref-recognised categories such as addendum, clarification, correction, corrigendum, erratum, expression of concern, new edition, new version, partial retraction, removal, retraction, or withdrawal.
| Update type |
When AJSS uses it |
Treatment of the record |
| Correction, erratum, or corrigendum |
An error affects part of the article or its metadata but does not invalidate the work’s principal findings. |
A dated correction notice identifies the error and correction. Material notices receive their own DOI and are linked to the article. |
| Addendum or clarification |
Additional information or explanation is required to improve interpretation without changing the original conclusions. |
A separate, dated notice is linked to the original article; the original text is not silently rewritten. |
| Expression of concern |
Serious, unresolved doubts exist about the integrity or reliability of an article, and the investigation is incomplete, inconclusive, delayed, or beyond the journal’s authority. |
A clearly labelled notice warns readers and remains linked until the concern is resolved or replaced by another formal action. |
| Partial retraction |
A distinct part of the work is unreliable or unethical, while the remaining content continues to be reliable and separable. |
A notice identifies the affected section and the basis for the decision. The article is prominently marked and linked to the notice. |
| Retraction |
The findings are unreliable, the work contains major plagiarism or unethical research, publication was unauthorised or redundant, peer review was compromised, or another serious defect invalidates the article. |
The article normally remains accessible but is prominently labelled as retracted on the landing page and PDF and linked to a free, dated retraction notice stating the reason and responsible party where appropriate. |
| Withdrawal |
An early online item or publication-in-process must be withdrawn because of a serious error, duplicate publication, legal restriction, or comparable exceptional circumstance. |
The content is replaced by a transparent withdrawal notice. Bibliographic and DOI information remains available wherever possible. |
| Removal |
Content must be removed only in exceptional circumstances, such as a binding legal requirement, serious privacy breach, defamation risk, or an immediate and substantial health or safety risk. |
The content may be suppressed, but a tombstone landing page and explanatory notice remain unless prohibited by law or necessary to prevent harm. |
| New version or new edition |
A substantial revision creates a separately citable scholarly object rather than a correction of the existing Version of Record. |
The new version receives its own DOI where appropriate, is clearly labelled, and is linked to the earlier version through relationship metadata. |
7. Minor and material changes
Minor changes
AJSS may correct typographical, formatting, or display errors in place when they do not alter the meaning, results, authorship, citation, or interpretation of the work. Where useful to readers, a dated change note will be added. Minor changes do not normally require a separate DOI notice.
Material changes
A change is material when it may affect interpretation, findings, attribution, author credit, ethical status, or the reliability of the scholarly record. AJSS will publish a separate update notice for such a change, assign a DOI to the notice where required, and register the relationship with Crossref. A material change will not be concealed by replacing the Version of Record without explanation.
8. Presentation and permanence of the scholarly record
Whenever legally and ethically possible, the original Version of Record will remain available so that the history of the publication can be understood. AJSS will:
- place a prominent status statement on the article landing page;
- mark the article PDF and other digital versions clearly when the article is corrected, subject to an expression of concern, partially retracted, or retracted;
- make correction, concern, retraction, withdrawal, and removal notices freely accessible;
- state what changed, why it changed, the date of the decision, and who initiated the action where disclosure is appropriate;
- preserve the original DOI and bibliographic record; and
- update AJSS and Crossref metadata so discovery services can display the current status.
AJSS will not delete a DOI, reuse it for different content, or direct it to unrelated material.
9. Authorship and bibliographic metadata changes
Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after publication require a written explanation and agreement from all affected authors. AJSS may request institutional confirmation where authorship is disputed. Approved authorship changes will be documented through a correction notice and updated metadata rather than made silently.
Errors in author names, affiliations, ORCID identifiers, titles, abstracts, pagination, dates, funding information, references, licensing, or other bibliographic fields will be corrected according to their effect on discoverability, attribution, citation, and interpretation.
10. Appeals, complaints, and conflicts of interest
An author or other directly affected party may appeal a post-publication decision by providing a reasoned statement and relevant new evidence. An appeal will be reviewed by an editor or adviser who was not materially involved in the original decision wherever practicable. An appeal may confirm, modify, or reverse the original action; it does not automatically delay a notice needed to protect the scholarly record.
Editors, reviewers, and advisers must disclose relevant conflicts of interest and recuse themselves when their impartiality could reasonably be questioned. If a concern involves the Editor-in-Chief, the publisher will appoint an independent senior editor or qualified external adviser.
11. Licensing, access, and preservation
Post-publication notices are part of the scholarly record and will be openly accessible. AJSS content is published under the licence displayed on the article; update notices will normally use the same open-access framework. AJSS will maintain landing pages, DOI resolution, journal archives, and designated preservation copies to support continuing access and version transparency.
12. Policy governance and review
The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the application of this policy, subject to the oversight of the AJSS Editorial Board and publisher. The policy will be reviewed periodically and may be revised to reflect changes in Crossref requirements, COPE guidance, law, technology, or recognised scholarly-publishing practice. Substantive revisions to this page will be dated and retained in the policy history.
14. Standards and related guidance
Policy history
| Version |
Date |
Change |
| 1.0 |
21 July 2026 |
Initial AJSS Crossmark Update Policy adopted. |
