RETRACTION: Origin of the distinct site occupations of H atom in hcp Ti and Zr/Hf

Abstract

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal ( https://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy ). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. The Editor-in-Chief was alerted to the presence of a sentence in this paper referring to the prompting of 13 citations by reviewers during the peer review process. An investigation conducted on behalf of the journal by Elsevier's Research Integrity & Publishing Ethics team has determined that the authors were requested by two of the reviewers to insert redundant references. The peer review process is deemed to have been compromised. The journal has decided to immediately remove the reviewers responsible for the citation prompting from the journal database, so that they cannot review papers in the future. The Editor-in-Chief has approved the retraction and has invited the authors to resubmit the paper, to be reviewed through a proper, fair peer review process. The authors are in full agreement with the reason for retraction, and they intend to resubmit the work to the journal. The Editor would like to clarify that the authors were not at fault in this matter, and their reputation and contributions should not be called into question. Apologies are offered to the authors and the readers of the journal.