Plagiarism and Academic Integrity Policy

JAFESS maintains strict policy regarding plagiarism and is committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics in alignment with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.

Similarity Screening & Thresholds

All submitted manuscripts undergo mandatory similarity screening using QuillBot Premium to detect both textual similarity and AI-generated content. The screening will be applied either at the point of submission or prior to the peer-review process.

  • Minor Overlap (<25%): Manuscripts shall be returned to the author for mandatory revisions and proper rephrasing or citation.
  • Significant Overlap (>25%): Manuscripts exceeding this threshold are subject to immediate desk rejection.

Note: Percentages exclude the bibliography, references, and commonly used technical phrases or terminology.

Definitions of Misconduct

Plagiarism is defined as the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Verbatim Copying: Reproducing text word-for-word without quotation marks or attribution.
  • Mosaic Plagiarism: Patchworking snippets of different texts together without original synthesis.
  • Salami Slicing: Fragmenting a single, large study into multiple small papers to increase publication count.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Reusing significant portions of one’s own previously published work without proper citation or disclosure.

Post-Publication Discovery

If plagiarism is identified after a manuscript has been published, JAFESS will conduct a formal investigation. Confirmed cases will result in:

  • A formal retraction of the article.
  • A published notice of ethical violation.
  • Notification of the author’s affiliated institution and/or funding bodies.

Penalties for Misconduct

Beyond immediate rejection or retraction, JAFESS reserves the right to impose further sanctions. Repeat offenders or cases of gross misconduct may lead to a temporary ban (e.g., 2–5 years) or a permanent ban from submitting to the journal.

Permissible Overlap

The following instances are generally considered acceptable and will not trigger a plagiarism violation:

  • Similarities restricted solely to the References section.
  • Standard Methodologies: Use of common descriptions for established procedures or mathematical formulas.
  • Preprints: Overlap with the author’s own work previously uploaded to a recognized preprint server, provided this is explicitly declared at the time of submission.