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Plagiarism Policy

Every submission is screened for originality. Scholarena is part of CrossCheck, and we follow COPE guidance when concerns arise.

Our approach

Scholarena is part of CrossCheck — an initiative to help editors verify the originality of submitted manuscripts. Selected submissions are scanned and compared against the CrossCheck database and other publisher repositories.

Plagiarism occurs when an author attempts to pass off someone else's work as their own. Duplicate publication (sometimes called self-plagiarism) occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of their own published work without providing appropriate citation.

Plagiarism prior to publishing

Scholarena judges every case on its merits. If plagiarism is detected by an editorial board member, reviewer, or editor — before or after acceptance — the author(s) will be alerted and asked to rewrite the content or cite references properly. If more than 30% of the paper is plagiarised, the article may be rejected and the author is notified.

When is plagiarism checked?

All submitted manuscripts are checked for plagiarism after submission and before the review process begins.

How plagiarism is handled

Manuscripts in which plagiarism is detected are handled based on the extent of the infringement:

  • Below 5% — The manuscript is given an ID and sent to the author for content revision.
  • 5–30% — The manuscript is not given an ID and is sent back to the author for content revision.
  • Over 30% — The manuscript is rejected without review. The author is advised to revise and resubmit as a new submission.

Post-publication plagiarism

If a case of plagiarism comes to light after publication, the journal conducts a preliminary investigation. If plagiarism is confirmed, the journal will contact the author's institute and funding agencies. A determination of misconduct will result in a statement, bidirectionally linked to and from the original paper, noting the plagiarism and providing a reference to the plagiarised material. Depending on extent, the paper may also be formally retracted.

What counts as plagiarism

  • Copying exact content from another source or purposely using portions of another author's paper.
  • Copying elements of another paper, such as figures, tables, equations, or illustrations that are not common knowledge.
  • Using text downloaded from the internet without attribution.
  • Copying or downloading figures, photographs, pictures, or diagrams without acknowledging the source.
  • Publishing a translated work without identifying the original title, date, and journal.
  • Using material from another work without citing the reference or changing the language to one's own.

Reporting plagiarism

If you come across a case of plagiarism in any journal from any publisher, please inform the editorial offices of all involved journals, giving the journal names, manuscript titles, author names, volume, issue, year of publication, and any other relevant details. The editorial offices will handle the matter per their policy.

By submitting to Scholarena, authors confirm the manuscript is original, unpublished work, and not under consideration elsewhere. Manuscripts may be checked for originality using anti-plagiarism software.