Policy on plagiarism
The articles are checked for obvious instances of plagiarism on submission and when in the review process. Authors are encouraged to use Turn-it-In to check their articles before they are submitted.
JOVACET does not allow self-plagiarism. Authors must ensure that when they are writing an article based on their dissertation or thesis, whether published or not, that they acknowledge the source. If using a direct quote from the thesis, this should be indicated with quotation marks followed by the year and page reference in the citation. If not quoting directly, the author must paraphrase the relevant sections and acknowledge the source in the citation. The dissertation or thesis must appear in the reference list too.
Reviewers are encouraged to keep an eye out for suspected AI use which is unacknowledged or which are at odds with the style of writing in the rest of the article. This could be flagged for the attention of the editor of JOVACET to take action.
The editor will investigate any allegations of plagiarism made to the journal. If the allegations appear to be well founded, the author will be requested to supply an explanation. The allegations and explanation can be referred to the editorial committee for further investigation. Based on the investigation and response from the author, the editorial committee will take the following actions based on the nature and severity of the case:
- If the article is in the process of being peer reviewed, it may be returned to the author to acknowledge the source(s) properly.
- If the nature of the plagiarism is minor and possibly unintentional, the author will be asked to rewrite the section that has been inadvertently plagiarised.
- If this revision cannot be effected owing to the extent of the plagiarism, the article may be rejected if there can be no other outcome.
- Once the article has already been published, a concern or retraction will be published.
- The author’s institution may also be approached, depending on the response of the author involved.
