Plagiarism Policy

The Editorial Team of SIMJ acknowledges that plagiarism is unacceptable and therefore establishes the following policy outlining actions to be taken if plagiarism is identified in a submitted manuscript.

Definition

Plagiarism is defined as the act, intentionally or unintentionally, of obtaining or attempting to obtain credit for scientific work by using text, data, ideas, or results from other sources without proper and accurate citation.
This includes copying sentences, paragraphs, data, images, or research findings without permission and appropriate referencing.

Policy Statements

1. Originality Requirement
   • Manuscripts must be original, never published before, and not currently under review or consideration at another publication.
   • Material taken from other sources must be clearly identified with appropriate citation.
2. Plagiarism Screening
   • All submitted manuscripts will be checked for plagiarism using anti‑plagiarism software (e.g., Turnitin, iThenticate, or similar tools) prior to review.
3. Plagiarism Levels and Actions
   • Minor Plagiarism – Short copied text without proper citation.
     Action: Authors will be asked to revise and cite correctly.
   • Major Plagiarism – Substantial portions of others’ work without citation.
     Action: Manuscript will be rejected, and the Author(s) may be sanctioned.
4. Authorship Responsibility
   • All authors are responsible for the contents of their article as confirmed by the Letter of Originality.
   • If plagiarism is identified, all co‑authors will face the same actions.
5. Simultaneous Submission
   • If a manuscript is found to have been submitted simultaneously to another journal, and this is discovered during review or after publication, the journal will take action as in Major Plagiarism.
6. Sanctions Beyond Defined Cases
   • If plagiarism is detected outside these scenarios, the Editorial Team has the right to impose sanctions according to journal policy.