Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is not acceptable in the journal, and includes, but is not limited to, copying or reusing text, ideas, images or data from other sources without clear attribution, and goes against the principle of academic publishing. The journal uses iThenticate to screen submitted content for originality before publication. iThenticate checks submissions against millions of published research papers, and billions of web content. Any issues detected by the software will be addressed by a follow-up investigation in line with ICMJE guidelines and if plagiarism is detected the manuscript may be rejected, corrected or retracted, as appropriate. If less than 15% of the content is identified as plagiarized, the manuscript will proceed to the next stage for review. If plagiarism is detected between 15% and 30%, the author may be asked to revise the manuscript. However, if there is substantial plagiarism, exceeding 30% of the manuscript content or any part thereof, the manuscript will be promptly rejected.