Plagiarism Policy

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism includes presenting another person’s words, ideas, data, images, methods or intellectual work as one’s own without proper acknowledgement.

It includes:

• Direct copying without quotation and citation.
• Inadequate or misleading paraphrasing.
• Reuse of one’s own published material without citation.
• Duplicate or redundant publication.
• Translation of previously published work without disclosure.
• Copying tables, figures or images without attribution or permission.
• Fabrication or manipulation intended to conceal copied material.
• Using AI-generated content containing copied or fabricated material.

Similarity Screening

All submitted manuscripts may be screened using recognised plagiarism-detection software (Turnitin/drilbit/Urkund) before peer review, during revision or after publication.

A similarity report is a screening tool only. Editorial decisions are based on the nature, location, extent and context of the overlap, not solely on the total similarity percentage.

UGC Similarity Levels

The UGC Regulations classify similarity as follows:

Exclusions from Similarity Assessment

• Properly quoted and attributed text.
• References and bibliography.
• Table of contents, preface and acknowledgements.
• Standard terminology.
• Laws, recognised symbols and standard equations.
• Common knowledge and unavoidable technical phrases.

The abstract, hypothesis, observations, results, conclusions and recommendations must remain original.

Editorial Action

Minor or Correctable Overlap

The manuscript may be returned to the authors for:

• Proper citation or rewriting.
• Removal of copied material.
• Addition of quotation marks.
• Submission of required permissions.
• Clarification of related publications.

Substantial Plagiarism

The manuscript may be rejected when it contains:

• Extensive unattributed copying.
• Plagiarised ideas or data.
• Duplicate publication.
• Repeated or deliberate misconduct.
• Copied results, discussion or conclusions.
• Manipulated citations or similarity reports.

Plagiarism Detected After Publication

The journal may:

• Request an explanation and original records.
• Publish a correction.
• Issue an expression of concern.
• Retract the article.
• Notify the authors’ institution, ethics committee or funding agency.
• Restrict future submissions.

Self-Plagiarism and Duplicate Publication

Authors must disclose all closely related manuscripts, conference papers, preprints, theses and previously published reports.

Reuse of previously published text, data, tables or figures must be properly cited, transparently disclosed, permitted by the copyright holder or licence, and scientifically justified.

Submitting the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal is prohibited.

Author Responsibilities

• Submit original work.
• Cite all sources accurately.
• Use quotation marks for verbatim text.
• Obtain permission for protected material.
• Disclose previous dissemination of the work.
• Verify that AI-assisted content is original and accurate.
• Cooperate with investigations.
• Retain original data and supporting records.

Authors remain responsible for all content submitted under their names.

Complaints and Appeals

Allegations of plagiarism may be submitted to the Editor with supporting evidence.

The journal will:

• Conduct a confidential preliminary assessment.
• Give the authors an opportunity to respond.
• Review the evidence fairly.
• Seek institutional assistance where necessary.
• Take proportionate corrective action.

Authors may appeal a decision by providing a reasoned explanation and relevant evidence. The appeal will be reviewed independently where possible.

Final Statement