Withdrawal of Manuscript

Al Qalam: Jurnal Ilmiah Keagamaan dan Kemasyarakatan respects the rights of authors to withdraw a submitted manuscript. However, manuscript withdrawal must be conducted responsibly and must not compromise the editorial process, reviewers, or other parties involved in the publication pipeline.

1. Terms and Reasons for Manuscript Withdrawal

Authors may submit a request for manuscript withdrawal provided there are justifiable academic reasons or circumstances, including but not limited to:

  • Substantial errors are discovered within the manuscript that cannot be rectified through the standard revision process.

  • Research ethics or publication ethics violations are identified.

  • Serious issues arise regarding data integrity, authorship claims, or necessary approvals from involved institutions or relevant parties.

  • The manuscript has been or will be published in another journal due to unavoidable circumstances that have been explicitly communicated to the editor.

  • A force majeure event occurs that significantly impairs the author's capacity to continue the publication process.

Manuscript withdrawal cannot be requested simply because the author finds another journal offering faster publication times, lower publication fees, or other reasons unrelated to academic integrity or publication ethics.

Withdrawal requests must be submitted officially by the corresponding author through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform or via official journal email, detailing the precise reason for withdrawal alongside complete manuscript metadata.

2. Authority to Approve Withdrawal

A withdrawal request does not take effect automatically upon submission by the author.

The final decision regarding manuscript withdrawal rests strictly under the authority of the Editor-in-Chief or an Editor designated by the Editor-in-Chief, after evaluating the author’s rationale, current manuscript status, and potential impact on the editorial process.

For co-authored manuscripts, withdrawal requests must, in principle, obtain consent from all listed authors. In the event of an authorship dispute, the editor reserves the right to withhold a decision until the dispute is resolved satisfactorily by the authors.

3. Withdrawal After Peer Review Initiation

If a manuscript is requested for withdrawal after the peer-review process has commenced, the author must provide a fully justifiable reason.

Withdrawing a manuscript without sound academic or ethical justification after reviewers have dedicated time and expertise to assess the paper may be classified as an irresponsible withdrawal.

Under such circumstances:

  • The journal may request a formal written explanation from the corresponding author.

  • The journal reserves the right to log the withdrawal history in the editorial archives.

  • If administrative or processing expenses have already been incurred by the journal, these costs may be assessed to the author in accordance with established journal policies.

  • Authors are strictly prohibited from submitting the same manuscript to another journal until the official withdrawal process with Al Qalam is formally completed.

4. Withdrawal After Acceptance

Withdrawing a manuscript after a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) has been issued is permitted only under extraordinary and fully substantiated circumstances.

Unilateral cancellation of publication by authors after acceptance may incur administrative consequences, including:

  • The withdrawal request must receive explicit approval from the Editor-in-Chief.

  • Authors may be required to provide a formal written justification regarding the cancellation.

  • The journal may impose a reasonable withdrawal fee or administrative charge if substantial editorial operations—such as copyediting, proofreading, typesetting/layout design, or DOI registration—have already been performed.

  • The withdrawal record will be archived in the editorial management system.

  • The journal reserves the right to decline future submissions of the same manuscript or new submissions from the authors if the withdrawal is conducted without valid justification.

This policy is enforced to prevent arbitrary, unilateral withdrawal practices after the journal has invested significant editorial and peer-review effort.

5. Post-Publication Withdrawal & Retraction

Once an article has been officially published on the journal’s website and assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), it cannot be withdrawn through standard withdrawal procedures.

If serious issues are identified post-publication, they will be addressed via formal publication mechanisms:

  • Correction (Erratum/Corrigendum);

  • Expression of Concern; or

  • Retraction,

depending on the nature and severity of the issue.

A retraction is executed when severe violations of publication integrity occur, such as plagiarism, data fabrication/falsification, duplicate publication, research ethics violations, or fundamental errors that invalidate the article's findings.

In cases of retraction, the article page and full text will remain accessible in the journal archive clearly marked with a RETRACTED status to maintain a transparent public record and preserve scholarly integrity.

6. Withdrawal Fees

Al Qalam: Jurnal Ilmiah Keagamaan dan Kemasyarakatan does not charge withdrawal fees at early stages if the withdrawal request stems from legitimate academic, ethical, or force majeure grounds.

However, if authors unilaterally withdraw a manuscript without an acceptable justification after peer review, acceptance, copyediting, proofreading, layout, or other production tasks have been executed, the journal reserves the right to charge an administrative withdrawal fee proportional to the editorial work performed.

Any applicable fee will be communicated transparently to the author and will not serve as an unreasonable penalty. Withdrawal fees will never apply if the withdrawal is necessitated by errors or oversights originating from the journal side.

7. Force Majeure

The journal may approve a withdrawal request without penalty if the author encounters a verified force majeure event that unexpectedly hinders the completion or publication of the manuscript.

Force majeure conditions include, but are not limited to:

  • Major natural disasters;

  • War or armed conflict;

  • Epidemics or public health emergencies;

  • Prolonged system or infrastructure failures;

  • Institutional policy changes directly barring publication;

  • Other extraordinary circumstances beyond the author's reasonable control.

The Editor-in-Chief holds sole discretion to determine whether a scenario qualifies as force majeure based on evidence provided by the author. In such cases, the journal will prioritize a fair resolution without penalty, provided no publication ethics violations have occurred.

8. Final Provisions

Every withdrawal request will be evaluated individually based on the manuscript status, reasons provided, editorial integrity, and academic ethics standards.

Al Qalam is committed to applying this withdrawal policy in a transparent, consistent, proportional, and non-discriminatory manner across all submissions.

By submitting a manuscript to Al Qalam: Jurnal Ilmiah Keagamaan dan Kemasyarakatan, authors acknowledge and agree to abide by all terms outlined in this Withdrawal Policy.