Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism Policy

Poornaprajna International Journal of Basic Sciences (PIJBS)

The Poornaprajna International Journal of Basic Sciences (PIJBS) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, originality, ethical research communication, and responsible scholarly publishing. The journal strictly discourages all forms of plagiarism, duplication, unethical reuse of content, data fabrication, falsification, and misrepresentation of authorship. Every manuscript submitted to PIJBS must be the original work of the author(s) and must not have been published, submitted, or accepted elsewhere in any form.

1. Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism refers to the use of another person’s words, ideas, data, images, tables, figures, methods, findings, or intellectual contribution without proper acknowledgement. It includes copying, paraphrasing, reproducing, translating, or adapting content from published or unpublished sources without suitable citation and permission where required.

Plagiarism may occur intentionally or unintentionally. Therefore, authors are expected to carefully check their manuscripts before submission and ensure that all borrowed ideas, quotations, references, figures, tables, and data are properly cited.

2. Forms of Plagiarism

PIJBS considers the following practices as plagiarism or unethical publication conduct:

a. Direct Plagiarism

Copying text, sentences, paragraphs, tables, figures, or other material from another source without quotation marks, citation, or acknowledgement.

b. Mosaic or Patchwork Plagiarism

Mixing copied phrases or ideas from multiple sources with minor changes in wording while presenting them as original work.

c. Self-Plagiarism

Reusing substantial parts of one’s own previously published work without proper citation, disclosure, or justification. This includes duplicate publication, salami publication, and redundant publication.

d. Paraphrasing Without Citation

Restating another author’s ideas or findings in different words without giving credit to the original source.

e. Data Plagiarism

Using another researcher’s data, results, observations, images, graphs, or experimental findings without permission or acknowledgement.

f. Image, Figure, and Table Plagiarism

Reproducing or modifying images, diagrams, photographs, graphs, tables, or illustrations from other sources without proper citation or copyright permission.

g. Source-Based Plagiarism

Providing incorrect, incomplete, fabricated, or misleading citations to hide the actual source of borrowed material.

h. AI-Assisted Plagiarism

Using artificial intelligence tools to generate text, references, data, images, or interpretations and presenting them as original scholarly work without proper verification, transparency, or author responsibility.

3. Originality Requirement

All manuscripts submitted to PIJBS must be original, unpublished, and not under review by any other journal, conference, book, or publication platform. Authors must ensure that their manuscript contributes new knowledge, interpretation, analysis, method, experiment, review, or scholarly understanding in the area of basic sciences and allied disciplines.

The submission of a manuscript to PIJBS indicates that:

  • the work is original;
  • all sources have been properly acknowledged;
  • the manuscript has not been published previously;
  • the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere;
  • all authors have approved the submission;
  • permissions have been obtained for copyrighted material wherever required.

4. Similarity Check

PIJBS may screen all submitted manuscripts using plagiarism detection software, similarity checking tools, search engines, manual editorial review, or a combination of these methods. The similarity report is used as an editorial aid and not as the sole basis for decision-making. The editorial team examines the nature, source, and seriousness of similarity before making a decision.

Similarity from references, commonly used technical terms, standard methodology, institutional names, legal statements, and unavoidable phrases may be treated differently from copied intellectual content. However, high similarity in the introduction, literature review, discussion, results, conclusion, abstract, or core argument will be considered seriously.

5. Acceptable Similarity Level

As a general guideline, PIJBS expects submitted manuscripts to maintain a low similarity score. The acceptable similarity limit may vary depending on the type of manuscript, subject area, and nature of overlap. However, manuscripts with substantial unattributed similarity, copied text, or duplicate content may be rejected at any stage.

The journal may follow the broad editorial guideline below:

Similarity Level

Editorial Action

Up to 10%

Generally acceptable, subject to editorial review

11%–20%

May require revision, correction, or improved citation

21%–30%

Serious concern; manuscript may be returned for major revision

Above 30%

Normally rejected unless the similarity is justified and non-problematic

The above limits are indicative only. Even a low similarity score may be unacceptable if it includes copied core content, results, conclusions, or intellectual arguments. Similarly, a higher score may be acceptable in rare cases if the overlap comes from references, standard terminology, or properly quoted/cited content.

6. Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts are free from plagiarism and unethical duplication. Before submission, authors should:

  • check the manuscript using reliable plagiarism detection tools;
  • cite all sources accurately;
  • use quotation marks for exact words taken from another source;
  • paraphrase properly and cite the original source;
  • avoid excessive copying from their own previous publications;
  • obtain permission for copyrighted material;
  • disclose any prior publication, preprint, thesis, conference version, or related work;
  • verify all references and citations;
  • ensure that AI-generated content, if used for language support, is carefully reviewed and ethically handled.

7. Plagiarism in Submitted Manuscripts

If plagiarism is detected during the initial screening or peer review stage, the editorial office may take one or more of the following actions:

  • return the manuscript to the author for correction;
  • request clarification from the corresponding author;
  • ask for proper citation, quotation, or permission;
  • reject the manuscript;
  • inform all co-authors;
  • restrict future submissions from the author(s) in serious cases.

The decision will depend on the seriousness of the case, extent of similarity, author explanation, and editorial assessment.

8. Plagiarism After Publication

If plagiarism is discovered after publication, PIJBS will investigate the matter carefully. The journal may contact the author(s), reviewers, editors, institution, or complainant for clarification. Based on the seriousness of the misconduct, PIJBS may take appropriate action, including:

  • publishing a correction;
  • issuing an expression of concern;
  • retracting the article;
  • removing or marking the article as retracted;
  • informing the author’s institution or funding agency;
  • notifying indexing databases, if applicable;
  • banning future submissions from the author(s) for a specified period.

Retraction may be considered when the article contains substantial plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated data, unethical reuse of content, or misleading authorship.

9. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

PIJBS does not accept manuscripts that have already been published or are under consideration elsewhere. Authors must not submit the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Redundant publication, duplicate submission, salami slicing, and unethical division of one research work into multiple minimal publications are not acceptable.

If a submitted manuscript is based on a thesis, dissertation, preprint, conference paper, project report, or previously circulated version, authors must clearly disclose this at the time of submission and provide proper citation where required.

10. Use of Previously Published Material

Authors who wish to reuse previously published figures, tables, diagrams, photographs, or large text excerpts must obtain permission from the copyright holder unless the material is covered by a suitable open license. Proper citation must be provided in all cases. The responsibility for copyright clearance lies entirely with the author(s).

11. Plagiarism in Review and Editorial Process

Reviewers and editors are also expected to maintain ethical conduct. They must not use unpublished ideas, data, methods, arguments, or conclusions from submitted manuscripts for their own research or advantage. Any suspected misuse of confidential manuscript content by reviewers, editors, or editorial staff will be treated as a serious ethical violation.

12. Policy on Artificial Intelligence Tools

Authors may use AI-based tools for language polishing, grammar correction, formatting assistance, reference checking, or improving readability. However, AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, generate false references, manipulate images, produce misleading analysis, or replace original scholarly thinking.

Authors remain fully responsible for the originality, accuracy, citations, interpretation, and ethical integrity of their manuscript. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot take responsibility for the work. If AI tools have been substantially used in manuscript preparation, authors should disclose the nature of such use where appropriate.

13. Handling Complaints Related to Plagiarism

Any reader, reviewer, editor, author, or institution may report suspected plagiarism to the editorial office with proper evidence. Complaints will be handled confidentially and fairly. The journal will examine the evidence, compare the relevant sources, seek author clarification if necessary, and take action based on the findings.

False, malicious, or unsupported allegations will not be entertained. However, genuine concerns related to plagiarism and publication misconduct will be treated seriously.

14. Editorial Discretion

The Editor-in-Chief and editorial board reserve the right to make the final decision in all plagiarism-related matters. Decisions will be based on the extent of similarity, seriousness of ethical violation, author response, originality of the work, and accepted standards of scholarly publishing.

15. Commitment to Ethical Publishing

PIJBS believes that originality is the foundation of academic research and scholarly communication. The journal is committed to promoting ethical writing, responsible citation, transparent publication practices, and trust in research. Authors, reviewers, editors, and readers are expected to support this commitment by maintaining honesty, fairness, and academic integrity at every stage of publication.