Ege Journal of Medicine reserves the right to implement necessary editorial actions in the face of scientific errors, ethical violations, illegalities, or serious risks threatening public health identified in published studies, in line with the principles of scientific publication ethics, academic integrity, editorial independence, transparency, and the integrity of scientific records. These processes are conducted by the Editorial Board, taking into account the TÜBİTAK ULAKBİM TR Index evaluation criteria, the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the national legislation in force. The nature of the action to be applied is determined based on the scope of the identified problem, its impact on the reliability of the scientific findings, and its potential consequences regarding publication ethics.

The removal of published scientific content from online access can only be carried out temporarily or permanently under exceptional and objective grounds. This practice is considered in cases where the content constitutes an illegality, violates the intellectual property, personality, or privacy rights of third parties, requires removal in accordance with the decisions of competent judicial, administrative, or ethical authorities, or poses an urgent and serious risk to human health. In this process, the title, author information, existing DOI number, and other bibliographic metadata of the article are preserved in order to protect the continuity and bibliographic traceability of scientific records. The rationale and scope of the removal decision are explained through an official notice published on the journal's online platform.

Allegations involving suspicion of scientific research and publication misconduct, academic irregularity, plagiarism, data manipulation, or scientific fraud are investigated within the framework of the principles of impartiality, confidentiality, and due process. If the preliminary evaluation reveals concrete findings that require an investigation of the allegations, a written notification is sent to the relevant authors, granting them the right to provide an explanation and a formal response. When deemed necessary, additional information and documents may be requested, or the evaluations of competent institutions may be consulted. Based on the nature and severity of the potential violation and its impact on the reliability of the scientific results, the editorial board may apply appropriate ethical measures, including but not limited to the following:

Articles under evaluation may be re-examined in light of the findings regarding scientific and ethical compliance; the evaluation process may be temporarily suspended, or the article may be rejected if serious ethical violations are confirmed.

For published articles, actions such as Correction, Expression of Concern, or Retraction may be implemented, based on the validity and reliability of the scientific findings. While a correction is issued to rectify errors that do not invalidate the core scientific results of the study, an expression of concern may be published in cases where there are serious doubts about scientific reliability but the investigation has not yet been concluded. A retraction is applied when errors or violations that significantly undermine the findings or scientific reliability of the study are confirmed.

In cases requiring institutional notification, an official notification may be sent to the author's affiliated institution and competent authorities, in accordance with the nature of the suspected ethical violation, the investigation findings, and the provisions of the relevant legislation. In this process, confidentiality, the protection of personal data, and the rights of the related parties are essential.

Situations that raise suspicion of scientific publication misconduct during the peer-review process may be documented in line with the obtained findings and editorial evaluation results, and recorded into the editorial logs of the relevant article along with their justifications.

Decisions regarding corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions are announced to the public in a manner that preserves the reliability of scientific literature and the traceability of academic records. Retracted articles are clearly marked as "Retracted" on the journal's online publishing platform, and the official notice containing the rationale for the retraction is permanently linked to the relevant article. These notices explicitly state the reasoning, scope, and publication date of the decision, ensuring that readers, researchers, and indexing organizations can access accurate and reliable information regarding the current publication status of the article.