Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism constitutes an unethical practice in academic publishing and includes the appropriation of another author’s ideas, processes, results, or words without proper acknowledgment of the original source. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author reuses substantial portions of their own previously published work without appropriate citation. This practice may range from submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals to minimally modifying previously published work with limited new data.

Types of Plagiarism

Full Plagiarism

The verbatim use of previously published content without any textual, conceptual, or structural modifications is considered full plagiarism. This includes presenting another author’s work in its entirety as one’s own.

Partial Plagiarism

Occurs when content is compiled from multiple sources and, although extensively rephrased, fails to properly attribute the original sources.

Self-Plagiarism

Occurs when an author republishes substantial or entire portions of their own prior research without appropriate referencing. Complete self-plagiarism refers to the republication of an author’s previously published work in a new journal.

Detection and Similarity Threshold

To ensure academic integrity, JAPHTN-HAN strongly encourages authors to use citation management tools such as Mendeley, Zotero, and EndNote for proper referencing. All submitted manuscripts are screened using Turnitin, with a maximum allowable similarity index of ≤ 30%.

Submissions exceeding this threshold or indicating unethical copying practices will be rejected without review or returned to the author for revision and resubmission, as appropriate.

Author Declaration

Prior to publication, authors are required to submit a signed Author Originality Statement, signed by at least one author with the consent of all co-authors, affirming that the manuscript is original and complies with the journal’s ethical standards.

Directly quoted material must be clearly distinguished from the author’s original text through (1) indentation, (2) quotation marks, and (3) accurate citation of the source. Any material exceeding fair use—such as more than two or three consecutive sentences or reproduced graphic material—requires explicit permission from the copyright holder and, where possible, from the original author(s), in addition to proper attribution.

COPE Guidelines and Plagiarism Levels

In cases where plagiarism is suspected, the editorial board follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines to determine appropriate actions. The Editor-in-Chief assesses the severity of the violation and applies the following measures:

  • Minor plagiarism: Short sentences or a paragraph copied without proper citation, without substantial data or ideas taken. Action: Warning and mandatory revision with correct citations.

  • Intermediate plagiarism: Significant sections of text, data, or ideas used without proper attribution. Action: Immediate rejection.

  • Severe plagiarism: Extensive copied content, including original research data, equations, theories, or methods from other works. Action: Rejection and prohibition of future submissions.