Ukrainian Heart Journal adheres to international standards of publication ethics and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) regarding the retraction and correction of published articles.

Grounds for Retraction

The editorial office may decide to retract a published article in the following cases:

• reliable evidence of data, results, or conclusions being inaccurate or fabricated;
• identification of serious errors (in methodology, calculations, etc.) that significantly affect the results and conclusions of the study;
• confirmed plagiarism;
• violations of ethical standards in research (e.g., lack of informed consent, violation of participants’ rights);
• infringement of copyright or other legal violations;
• prior publication of the article in another source without proper disclosure, permission, or justification (duplicate publication).

Retraction Procedure

Concerns may be raised by authors, reviewers, readers, or institutions. All cases are considered by the editorial office in accordance with COPE recommendations. The editorial office conducts an initial assessment, requests explanations from the authors, and, if necessary, involves independent experts.

The final decision is made by the Editor-in-Chief in consultation with the Editorial Board.

The Journal publishes a retraction notice linked to the original article, clearly stating the reasons for retraction. The original article remains available on the Journal’s website but is marked as “Retracted” in the title and on each page of the PDF version.

Retracted articles are not removed from the Journal’s archive in order to preserve the transparency and integrity of the scholarly record.

Corrections
Corrections are published when an identified error does not significantly affect the main conclusions of the article but requires amendment to ensure the accuracy of the scholarly record. A correction notice is published as a separate item and is linked to the original publication.

Expression of Concern

The editorial office may issue an expression of concern if:
• information about potential misconduct has been received but the investigation is not yet complete;
• there are reasons to doubt the reliability of the findings, but the available evidence is insufficient for retraction.

The expression of concern remains in place until the investigation is completed, after which a final decision is made.

Article Removal

In exceptional cases, an article may be removed from publication if:

• its content poses a risk to public health or safety;
• it violates applicable laws;
• its dissemination may lead to serious legal consequences.

In such cases, the article’s metadata (title, authors, DOI) are retained along with a statement explaining the reasons for removal.