Plagiarism Policy

AJESS  is committed to promoting academic integrity and ethical publishing by preventing plagiarism in all submitted manuscripts. The journal follows strict plagiarism detection and evaluation procedures as outlined below.

Definition and Types of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as using another researcher’s ideas, findings, text, or visuals without proper citation. The following types of plagiarism are considered in AJESS :

  • Direct Plagiarism: Copying from a source without quotation marks or citation.

  • Self-Plagiarism: Republishing one’s own previous work without significant modification or citation.

  • Patchwriting: Making minor modifications to a source’s wording without proper attribution.

  • Improper Citation: Incomplete or incorrect referencing of sources.

  • Data Fabrication & Falsification: Altering or inventing research data.

Plagiarism Threshold and Acceptability Criteria

AJESS screens all submissions using plagiarism detection software (e.g., Turnitin, iThenticate) to assess similarity rates.

  • The overall similarity index must not exceed 20%.

  • Direct quotations should not exceed 5%.

  • The references section is excluded from the similarity check.

  • Direct quotes must be properly cited and enclosed in quotation marks.

Plagiarism Detection Process and Consequences

Plagiarism checks are conducted both during manuscript submission and peer review. If plagiarism is detected, the following actions will be taken:

1. Pre-Publication Plagiarism Detection

  • Similarity index below 20%: The manuscript is processed for peer review.

  • Similarity index between 20-30%: The author(s) will be asked to revise the manuscript.

  • Similarity index above 30%: The manuscript will be rejected immediately, and the author(s) will be notified.

2. Post-Publication Plagiarism Detection

  • If plagiarism is found in a published article, the paper will be retracted from the journal.

  • A formal report may be submitted to the author’s affiliated institution.

  • The author(s) may be temporarily or permanently banned from submitting to AJESS .

AJESS AESD maintains a zero-tolerance policy for academic misconduct and expects authors to adhere to the highest standards of research integrity.