Plagiarism Policy

What plagiarism is

Plagiarism is presenting another person’s words, ideas, data, structure or images as though they were your own. It does not require intent to deceive, and it is not limited to copied sentences: an argument taken from an uncited source is plagiarism even when every word is original.

The obligation is to make clear, at the point of use, what came from elsewhere and where it came from. A source listed in the reference list but not cited where it was used does not satisfy this.

Forms of plagiarism

Self-plagiarism

Reusing substantial passages from your own earlier publication without citing it is text recycling, and the journal treats it as a form of plagiarism. The reader is entitled to know what is new.

The journal applies this proportionately. Some reuse is unavoidable and unobjectionable:

• Normally acceptable — a method description reused where the method is genuinely the same, with the earlier paper cited; standard definitions; a short restatement of your own prior findings, cited.
• Not acceptable — reusing an introduction, literature review, discussion or conclusion; republishing findings already published elsewhere without disclosure; splitting one study across papers that share question, dataset and method.

A manuscript developed from your own thesis, working paper, conference paper or preprint is welcome. Declare the relationship at submission and cite the earlier version; the journal does not treat prior circulation as prior publication. The broader question of dividing work across papers is covered in the research integrity policy.

Similarity screening

Every manuscript is screened for similarity to published work at desk check, before it is sent for review, as part of the checks described in the peer review policy. Manuscripts may be screened again before acceptance where they have been substantially rewritten.

Screening produces a report showing which passages match which sources. That report is read by a member of the editorial office — it is not acted on automatically, and no decision is taken from the summary figure alone.

Why a percentage is not a verdict

The journal does not publish a threshold percentage, and does not accept or reject manuscripts on the basis of one. A single figure is not evidence of anything on its own:

• A manuscript can score 30% entirely on correctly quoted and cited material, standard method wording, common phrasing and the reference list — and contain no plagiarism at all;
• A manuscript can score 4% on one uncited paragraph carrying the paper’s central argument — and be seriously plagiarised;
• Plagiarism of ideas, of translated material, and of an unpublished source produces no similarity match whatever.

What the editorial office looks at is therefore the matched text itself: where the overlap sits in the manuscript, whether it is quoted and cited, whether it is one continuous passage or scattered common phrases, and whether it carries substantive content or is boilerplate. That judgement is what determines the outcome.

Quoting and paraphrasing properly

• Quotation. Reproduce the wording exactly, inside quotation marks or as an indented block, with a citation including the page number. Extended quotation may also need the copyright holder’s permission — see the copyright policy.
• Paraphrase. Restate the point in your own structure and vocabulary, having set the source aside, and cite it. If your sentence tracks the original clause by clause, it is not a paraphrase however many synonyms it contains.
• Summary. Compress an argument in your own terms, with a citation. Where you continue to draw on the same source across a passage, make that clear rather than citing once at the end.
• Figures, tables and instruments. Cite the source, and obtain written permission where the material is under copyright. “Adapted from” requires the same permission as reproduction.

Found before publication

The response is proportionate to what the matched text shows, following the procedure in the publication ethics policy. The corresponding author is always shown the specific passages and given a fair opportunity to respond.

1. Minor and apparently unintentional — missing quotation marks, a citation in the wrong place, or a weak paraphrase in a few sentences. The manuscript is returned for correction, with the passages identified. This is treated as a fixable fault.
2. Substantial — extended uncited passages, or reuse of another’s argument or data. The manuscript is rejected, and the reason recorded.
3. Serious — copying that indicates deliberate appropriation of another’s work. The manuscript is rejected, the author’s institution is informed, and further submissions may be declined for a stated period.

Found after publication

Concerns about a published article are investigated however long ago it appeared. The authors are asked to respond, and where the concern is serious an expression of concern may be published while the matter is examined.

Where plagiarism is confirmed, the journal publishes a correction if the problem is confined to specific passages that can be properly attributed, and retracts the article where the plagiarism is extensive or goes to the substance of the work. The article is not removed: a retracted article stays available, marked as retracted, under the retraction and correction policy. The author’s institution is informed, as is the journal in which the original work appeared where that is appropriate.

Translation and language

Authors writing in a second language sometimes lean on the phrasing of published sources because it is available and correct. This is a common route into mosaic plagiarism, and the journal states plainly that it is still plagiarism — but it also recognises the pressure that produces it.

The remedy is language support, not borrowed sentences. Where an author’s meaning is clear but the expression is not, the journal would rather receive imperfect original prose and recommend language editing than receive fluent text assembled from other people’s. Where a passage matched at screening reads as this rather than as appropriation, it is handled under the minor category above.

Translating a passage from another language without citing it is plagiarism in the ordinary sense, and is not covered by this leniency.

Avoiding the problem

• Record the source and page number at the moment you take a note, and mark in your notes whether it is a quotation or your own summary;
• Write the passage from your understanding rather than with the source open in front of you;
• Cite at the point of use, not only in the reference list at the end;
• Cite your own earlier work as you would anyone else’s, and declare any overlap at submission;
• Obtain permission for reproduced figures, tables and instruments before you submit, not after acceptance;
• If in doubt about whether an overlap needs declaring, write to the editorial office at ceoborjss@gmail.com before submitting. A declared overlap is a routine matter; a discovered one is not.

Detailed preparation guidance is in the author guidelines.