Monthly Academic Journal of Social Sciences
  • facebook
  • twitter
Monthly Academic Journal of Social Sciences


  Plagiarism Policy - European Journal of Social Sciences (EJSS)

4. Plagiarism Policy

4.1 What is considered plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as unreferenced use of others published and unpublished ideas in same or other language. The extent of plagiarism in a manuscript can be defined as follow:

4.1.1 Major plagiarism

a. ‘Clear plagiarism’: unattributed copying of another person’s data / findings, resubmission of an entire publication under another author’s name (either in the original language or in translation) or major verbatim copying of original material in the absence of any citation to the source, or unattributed use of original, published academic work, such as hypothesis/idea of another person or group where this is a major part of the new publication and there is evidence that it was not developed independently.

b. ‘self-plagiarism’ or redundancy: When author(s) copy her or his own previously published material either in full or in part, without providing appropriate references.

4.1.2 Minor plagiarism

‘Minor copying of short phrases only’ with ‘no misattribution of data’, minor verbatim copying of < 100 words without indicating in direct quotation from an original work unless the text is accepted as widely used or standardized (eg. as a Material or Method), copying (not verbatim but changed only slightly) of significant sections from another work, whether or not that work is cited.

4.1.3 Use of images without acknowledgement of the source: republication of an image (image, chart, diagram etc)

4.2 When do we check for plagiarism

All manuscripts received by European Journal of Social Sciences (EJSS) ® are checked for plagiarism at every stage of the peer-review and editorial process.

4.2.1 After Submission and before Acceptance

a. Every manuscript submitted to European Journal of Social Sciences (EJSS) ® is checked for plagiarism after submission and initial evaluation and before being sent for peer review. We use Crossref Similarity Check (by iThenticate) for conducting a similarity check. This service enables text-matching from sources which are either not referenced or have been plagiarised in the submitted manuscript. Plagiarism check is conducted for Title, Abstract, Results and Discussion sections. Sometimes Materials and Methods are included. Subsequently a decision is taken by the editor based on the extent of plagiarism present in Title, Abstract, Results and Discussion sections. However, this matching of words or phrases could be by chance or due to use of technical phrases. Example, similarity in Materials and Methods section. The editor will make a sound judgement based upon various aspects. When minor plagiarism is detected at this stage, manuscript is immediately sent back to the authors asking to disclose all sources correctly. If major plagiarism is detected, manuscript is rejected and the authors are advised to revise and resubmit it as a fresh manuscript. See Section 4.2.4 Decision on plagiarism

Once authors revise the manuscript, plagiarism check is done once again by editor and if no plagiarism is seen in Title, Abstract, Results and Discussion sections of the manuscript, it is sent for peer review. Else, it is again returned to the authors.

b. Peer review

Peer reviewers are expected to evaluate manuscript which has been sent to them for peer review and comment upon plagiarism (in terms of idea) detected by them in the manuscript. Reviewers are also provided with access to Crossref Similarity Check Services (iThenticate) to assist them in conducting plagiarism checks on the manuscripts. They are expected to provide constructive comments to editor about the novelty of the work and any likely plagiarism.

c. Editorial process

If plagiarism is detected at any stage of the peer review and editorial process before acceptance of a manuscript, editors will consult editorial advisory board members and take a decision based upon Crossref Similarity Check and comments of peer reviewers. We evaluate any case of plagiarism on its own merits. We will ask the corresponding author(s) to rewrite the text or quote the text exactly and cite the original source. If plagiarism is major, the manuscript will be rejected. See Section 4.2.4 Decision on plagiarism

4.2.2 After Acceptance

We will use Crossref Similarity Check once again once a manuscript has been accepted. The accepted manuscript is defined as the final draft of the manuscript, as accepted for publication by the journal, including all modifications based on referees’ suggestions, before it has undergone copyediting and proof correction. Open access is allowed for accepted version. The embargo length is set to zero. See Section 6.6.2 Self Archiving (by authors).

We permit authors to archive accepted versions on non-commercial websites. This can be either authors’ own personal websites, their institution’s repository, funding body’s repository, online open access repository, Pre-Print server, PubMed Central, ArXiv or any non-commercial website.

If plagiarism is detected after accepted version has been self-archived by the author, we will ask for evidences to be sent to us. We will conduct an investigation where editor will ask the peer reviewers who had reviewed the manuscript to examine the evidences. After receiving feedback from peer reviewers, editor will take a decision in consultation with editorial board members and Editor-in-Chief. Final decision rests with Editor-in-chief. If plagiarism is found, editors will contact the author’s institute and/or funding agencies. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may be formally retracted. See Section 5 for our Retraction Policy.

4.2.3 After Publication

If plagiarism is detected after publication, we will ask for evidences to be sent to us. We will conduct an investigation where editor will ask the peer reviewers who had reviewed the manuscript to examine the evidences. After receiving feedback from peer reviewers, editor will take a decision in consultation with editorial board members and Editor-in-Chief. Final decision rests with Editor-in-chief. If plagiarism is found, editors will contact the author’s institute and/or funding agencies. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may be formally retracted. See Section 5 for our Retraction Policy.

4.2.4 Decision on plagiarism

Editor will respond appropriately, proportionately and consistently to the plagiarism detected at various stages of peer review and editorial process. When plagiarism is detected, the editor will take one of the following decisions in consultation with editorial board members. Manuscript can be rejected at any stage – just after submission, before or after acceptance or after publication. The final decision rests with Editor-in-chief.

4.2.4.1 Submitted Article at any stage of Peer review and Editorial process:

a. Minor plagiarism in submitted article – Authors will be asked to rewrite copied text and resubmit article

b. Major plagiarism in submitted article – A response will be sought from all the authors and about who was and who wasn’t aware of the plagiarism. Did the author intend to plagiarise or it occurred by chance or as an error? It is understood that senior authors should not be plagiarising based upon their experience. Editor will consult with editorial board members. Authors will be informed that they should take responsibility for the plagiarism and that editor may contact authors institution and/or funding agencies.

c. Use of images without acknowledgement of the source – Authors will be asked to add appropriate attribution or acknowledgement.

4.2.4.2 Accepted Article

a. Minor plagiarism in accepted article – Response will be sought from author and discussion with take place. Journal will suitably modify the article before publication.

b. Major plagiarism in accepted article – A response will be sought from all the authors and about who was and who wasn’t aware of the plagiarism. Authors will be informed that they should take responsibility for the plagiarism and that editor will contact authors institution and/or funding agencies. The article will be retracted. See section 5 for our Retraction Policy.

c. Use of images without acknowledgement of the source – A response will be sought from the author and author will be asked to add appropriate attribution or acknowledgement. Journal will issue a corrigendum giving the appropriate acknowledgements.

4.2.4.3 Published article

a. Minor plagiarism in published article – Response will be sought from author and discussion with take place. Journal will issue corrigendum and apology.

b. Major plagiarism in published article – A response will be sought from all the authors and about who was and who wasn’t aware of the plagiarism. Authors will be informed that they should take responsibility for the plagiarism and that editor will contact authors institution and/or funding agencies. The article will be retracted. See section 5 for our Retraction Policy.

c. Use of images without acknowledgement of the source – A response will be sought from the author and author will be asked to add appropriate attribution or acknowledgement. Journal will issue a corrigendum giving the appropriate acknowledgements.

Page last updated Nov 21, 2018



  EJSS logo