Ann Publisher’s editorial board recognized that plagiarism was unacceptable, and therefore established the following policy stating specific actions (penalties) after identifying plagiarism/similarity in articles submitted for publication on Ann Publisher. We will use Turnitin’s originality checking software as a tool in detecting text similarities in article manuscripts and final versions of articles that are ready for publication. A maximum of 25% similarity is allowed for submitted papers. If we find more than 25% of the similarity index, the article will be returned to the author for correction and resubmission.

Definition

Plagiarism involves “the use or closure of imitations of the language and thoughts of other authors and their representation as one’s original work.”

Policy

Papers must be original, unpublished, and not pending publication elsewhere. Any material taken verbatim from another source must be clearly identified as distinct from this original text by (1) indentation, (2) use of quotation marks, and (3) source identification. Any text with an amount that exceeds the fair use standard (here defined as more than two or three sentences or its equivalent) or graphic material reproduced from another source requires permission from the copyright holder and, if possible, the original author and also requires identification of the source. When plagiarism is identified, the Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the review of this paper and will approve measures according to the level of plagiarism detected in the paper in accordance with the following guidelines:

Plagiarism Rate

a. Low

Short sections of other articles are plagiarized without significant data or ideas taken from other papers. A warning is given to the author and a request to change the text and properly cite the original article was created.

b. Medium

Most papers are plagiarized without citations corresponding to the original paper. Submitted articles are rejected and authors are prohibited from submitting further articles for one year.

c. High

Most papers are plagiarized which involves reproducing original results or ideas presented in other publications. The paper was rejected and the author was banned from submitting further articles for five years.

It is understood that all authors are responsible for the content of the papers they submit because they all read and understand Ann Publisher’s Copyright and Licensing Terms. If a penalty is imposed for plagiarism, all authors will be subject to the same penalty. If a second case of plagiarism by the same author is identified, a decision on the action to be enforced will be made by the board with the editorin-chief. Authors are forbidden to submit further articles forever. This policy also applies to material reproduced from other publications by the same author. If an author uses text or images that have previously been published, the corresponding paragraphs or figures should be identified and the previous publication referenced. In the case of review papers or papers of a tutorial nature, many of the materials were previously published. Authors must identify the source of previously published material and obtain permission from the original author and publisher. If an author submits a manuscript to Ann Publisher with significant overlap with a manuscript submitted to another journal simultaneously, and this overlap is discovered during the review process or after the publication of both papers, the editors of the other journal are notified and the case is dealt with as a severe case of plagiarism. Significant overlap means the use of identical or nearly identical numbers and identical or slightly modified text for half the paper or more.

For self-plagiarism of less than half of the paper but more than one-tenth of the paper, the case should be treated as intermediate plagiarism. If plagiarism is limited to the method part, this case should be considered minor plagiarism. If an author uses some previously published material to clarify the presentation of new results, previously published material should be identified and differences for this publication should be mentioned. Permission to republish must be obtained from the copyright holder. In the case of manuscripts originally published in conference proceedings and then submitted for publication in Ann Publisher either in identical or expanded form, authors must identify the name of the conference proceedings and publication date and obtain permission to republish from the copyright holder.

The editor may decide not to accept this paper for publication. An author is allowed to use material from an unpublished presentation, including visual displays, in subsequent journal publications. In the case of a proposed publication, originally published in another language, the title, date, and journal of the original publication must be identified by the author, and copyright must be obtained. Editors may accept the publication of such translations in order to attract the attention of a wider audience. Editors can select specific papers that have already been published for republication to provide a better perspective of a series of papers published in a single issue of Ann Publisher. This republication must be clearly identified and the date and journal of the original publication must be given, and permission from the author(s) and publisher must be obtained.