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Plagiarism Policy & Screening Standards

Commitment to Academic Integrity

Scholix Publishers adheres strictly to the highest standards of research ethics and publication integrity as outlined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism, redundant publication, data falsification, and inappropriate attribution in all submitted and published manuscripts.

Standard Similarity Screening: Every manuscript submitted to any Scholix journal undergoes automated similarity screening via industry-standard anti-plagiarism software (Crossref Similarity Check powered by iThenticate / Turnitin) prior to editorial evaluation and peer review.

Acceptable Similarity Thresholds

Scholix journals evaluate similarity reports based on both quantitative metrics and qualitative editorial analysis:

  • Overall Similarity Index ≤ 15%: Generally acceptable, provided individual source matches do not exceed 2–3% and appropriate citations are supplied.
  • Similarity Index between 16% and 25%: The manuscript is returned to the corresponding author for rephrasing, citation corrections, and clarification before peer review is initiated.
  • Similarity Index > 25% or Extensive Text Borrowing: Immediate desk rejection without peer review. In cases of intentional plagiarism without attribution, the author's institution or funding body may be notified in line with COPE guidelines.

Forms of Academic Misconduct Addressed

Our editorial and integrity screening process explicitly checks for:

  • Direct Plagiarism: Word-for-word reproduction of another researcher’s text, hypothesis, figures, tables, or concepts without explicit quotation and credit.
  • Self-Plagiarism & Text Recycling: Authors recycling substantial sections of their own previously published work without disclosure or legitimate attribution.
  • Duplicate / Redundant Submission: Submitting the same research paper or substantially identical data simultaneously to two or more journals.
  • Patchwriting: Blending copied text with altered sentence structures or surface synonyms without genuine original synthesis.
  • Undisclosed Generative AI Content: Submitting AI-generated text or data without proper disclosure, or citing hallucinated / fabricated scholarly sources.

Sanctions & Retraction Protocol

If plagiarism is detected post-publication, Scholix follows the COPE flowcharts immediately:

  • An investigation is launched by the Journal Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Ethics Committee.
  • The authors and their affiliated institution are contacted for a formal explanation.
  • If plagiarism is verified, the article is permanently retracted. A formal Notice of Retraction is published, linked to the original DOI, and indexed across scholarly databases.