Plagiarism Policy

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

(https://publicationethics.org/category/keywords/plagiarism) defines plagiarism as follows:

 “When somebody presents the work of others (data, words or theories) as if they were his/her own and without proper acknowledgment”. Copying even one sentence from someone else’s manuscript, or even one of your own that has previously been published, without proper citation is considered plagiarism, and may violate copyright laws.

 

Office of Research Integrity (ORI) defines plagiarism of ideas as follows:

“Appropriating someone else’s idea (e.g., an explanation, a theory, a conclusion, a hypothesis, a metaphor) in whole or in part, or with superficial modifications without giving credit to its originator.”

 

The ORI provides here (https://ori.hhs.gov/acknowledging-source-our-ideas) some good examples of the plagiarism of ideas, including the phenomenon of unconscious plagiarism (i.e., cryptomnesia). These documents (https://ori.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/2019-02/Tips%20for%20Avoiding%20Plagiarism.pdf & https://ori.hhs.gov/28-guidelines-glance-avoiding-plagiarism) can be helpful for further study.

 

Why to avoid plagiarism?  

Authors should be properly credited for their work if that work is being re-used in another’s article. This is in accordance with international copyright laws and ethical conduct guidelines. Plagiarism detected in a paper can damage the trust and integrity expected by readers in the articles published by JECCE.  

 

How to detect the Plagiarism?

JECCE uses Turnitin Similarity Check and Turnitin AI Similarity Check to screen for unoriginal material. Authors submitting their article to JECCE should be aware that their paper may be submitted to Turnitin Similarity Check at any point during the peer-review or production process. If the similarity overlap is found in the article, the results of the Similarity Check will be examined by the journal to establish whether it constitutes plagiarism.

 

What happens if plagiarism detected?

The editor, editorial board members and the reviewers of the journal, following the COPE guidelines, will investigate any allegations of plagiarism or self-plagiarism/text-recycling made to a journal through online form (wwwwwwww). If the allegations appear to be founded, we will contact all named authors of the paper and request an explanation of the overlapping material. Investigations into this type of plagiarism will usually require the involvement of other parties, such as independent expert reviewers and/or institutions where the work was carried out.

 

Based on the investigation and reply from the author(s), the journal will decide how to proceed, using COPE flowcharts where applicable. This may result in the following actions being taken, depending on the nature and severity of the case:

 

  • If a paper is still in peer review, it may be returned to the author with a request that they address the issues through appropriate citation, use of quote marks to identify direct quotes, or re-writing.
  • If the similarity between the manuscripts is too extensive for revision, it may be rejected.
  • If the paper is already published online, a correction*, expression of concern or retraction may be published.
  • The author’s institution may also be informed.

 

*Please note that a correction can be published for minor similarities only where there is no misattribution or deliberate lack of attribution of work (e.g., to add in a missing full citation/ reference to the source material). A correction notice cannot be used to effectively ‘fix’ or rewrite the plagiarized sections.

 

How to avoid plagiarism?

When citing others’ (or your own) previous work, please ensure you have:

  • Clearly marked quoted verbatim text from another source with quotation marks.
  • Attributed and referenced the source of the quotation clearly within the text and in the Reference section of the paper.
  • Obtained permission from the original publisher and rightsholder when using previously published figures or tables.