Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic integrity and publishing ethics. It involves the unauthorized use or close imitation of ideas, text, data, or other creative work (e.g., tables, figures, and graphs) without proper acknowledgment or citation, and presenting it as original research. We are committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and take all cases of plagiarism very seriously.

Definition of Plagiarism

We define plagiarism as the reproduction of another work, in whole or in part, with at least 15% similarity (excluding properly cited references and commonly used phrases) and without proper citation or acknowledgment. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Direct Plagiarism: Copying text verbatim without proper citation.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Republishing one's own previously published work (in part or whole) without appropriate disclosure or citation.
  • Paraphrasing Plagiarism: Rephrasing another person's ideas or work without proper attribution.
  • Mosaic Plagiarism: Combining phrases, ideas, or data from multiple sources without proper acknowledgment.
  • Data Fabrication or Manipulation: Using falsified or manipulated data as original research.

Plagiarism Detection

All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism. Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 15% (excluding references and common phrases) will be flagged for further review by the editorial team.

  • Initial Screening: All manuscripts undergo plagiarism screening before being sent for peer review. If significant plagiarism is detected, the manuscript will be rejected immediately.
  • Post-Publication Screening: If plagiarism is identified after publication, appropriate actions will be taken as outlined below.

Consequences of Plagiarism

If evidence of plagiarism is found at any stage (before submission, during peer review, or after publication), the following actions will be taken depending on the severity of the case:

  1. Minor Overlap (e.g., 15-25%):
    • Authors will be notified, and the manuscript will be returned for revision to address the overlap and ensure proper citation.
  2. Moderate Plagiarism (e.g., 25-40%):
    • The manuscript will be rejected outright.
    • Authors may be barred from submitting to the journal for a defined period (e.g., 1-2 years).
  3. Severe Plagiarism (e.g., over 40%):
    • The manuscript will be rejected immediately.
    • If the manuscript has already been published, it will be retracted, and a retraction notice will be issued on the journal's website and in the next available issue.
    • The authors' affiliated institutions and/or funding agencies may be notified of the violation.
    • Authors found guilty of severe plagiarism may be permanently banned from submitting to the journal.

Guidance for Authors

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their work is original and properly cited. To assist authors in preparing plagiarism-free manuscripts, we recommend the following:

  • Use plagiarism detection tools to check for textual overlap before submission.
  • Properly attribute all sources, including text, ideas, data, tables, and figures.
  • Avoid submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously (duplicate submission).
  • Disclose if any part of the manuscript has been previously published (e.g., as a conference paper or preprint) and provide proper citation.

By submitting to the journal, authors agree to adhere to these ethical standards.

Post-Publication Actions

If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the following actions will be taken:

  1. The article will be retracted, and a retraction notice will be issued.
  2. The retraction notice will detail the reason for retraction and include a reference to the plagiarized content.
  3. The article will be removed from the journal's online platform, and metadata will be updated to reflect the retraction.