Plagiarism, presenting someone else’s words, ideas or data as your own, is not acceptable in any form.
What counts as plagiarism
- copying text, data, figures or ideas from another source without acknowledgement
- close paraphrasing without citation
- self-plagiarism: reusing substantial parts of your own published work without saying so
- submitting work that has already been published, in any language, as if it were new
Short quotations are welcome when they are marked as quotations and cited.
How we check
Submitted manuscripts may be checked for overlap with published work, using similarity-checking software and the editors’ own reading. A similarity score is a starting point, not a verdict: the editors look at what overlaps and why.
What happens
- Before publication: the manuscript may be returned for correction or rejected, depending on the extent of the problem.
- After publication: the journal may publish a correction or retract the article, and may inform the authors’ institutions.
Authors are always given the chance to explain before a decision is made.