The editorial board of the Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences has decided to issue this correction to maintain the research integrity goals of the journal. We sincerely apologize to our readers for the oversight and any confusion it may have caused. As part of our commitment to the highest standards of scientific integrity, we conducted a thorough review of the matter.
This correction pertains to the inclusion of an irrelevant reference, which appears as reference number 21 in one of the recently published articles in this journal (1).
Excerpt from the discussion section of the article:
“In the present study, less species diversity and altered relative abundance of gut bacteria were observed in children with ASD from Chongqing, China, consistent with previous reports (21, 22) to some extent.”
Reference 21:
Nissler C, Nowak M, Connan M, Buttner S, Vogel J, Kossyk I, et al. VITA—an everyday virtual reality setup for prosthetics and upper-limb rehabilitation. J Neural Eng. 2019;16(2):26039.
Analysis of Relevance:
Upon review, we determined that reference 21 is irrelevant to the main article, which investigates the microbiome-gut-brain axis and the role of dietary vitamin A in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The cited reference, in contrast, focuses on virtual reality applications for upper-limb rehabilitation, with no mention of gut bacteria, ASD, or dietary interventions. Its inclusion was an error or oversight, as it does not contribute to the article’s scientific context.
Action Taken:
The editorial board has decided to issue this correction to address this oversight. This step ensures the scientific rigor and relevance of the publication and aligns with the journal’s commitment to maintaining research integrity.
We appreciate the diligence of our readers in bringing this issue to our attention and remain dedicated to upholding the highest ethical standards in scholarly publishing.
Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Mehran Zarghami
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Addiction Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran, Iran
