Plagiarism — presenting another person’s words, ideas, data or images as one’s own without proper credit — is serious misconduct. JMIDH screens all submissions and acts on plagiarism at any stage.

Screening

Every manuscript is checked with Turnitin at submission and again before acceptance. Figures, charts and screenshots may be checked for duplication or manipulation, and code may be compared with public repositories.

Forms of plagiarism

•     Copying text, tables or figures without citation and quotation marks.

•     Text recycling (self-plagiarism): reusing substantial parts of one’s own published work without disclosure.

•     Redundant or duplicate publication: publishing the same data or model results in more than one article, or republishing a conference paper without substantial extension and disclosure.

•     Translation plagiarism: publishing work in English that was already published in another language, without disclosure and permission.

•     Disguised copying using paraphrasing tools, producing unusual ‘tortured phrases’.

•     Reusing code, models or datasets without attribution or in breach of their licences.

•     Reproducing questionnaires, validated scales or figures without permission or citation.

•     Thesis-based papers that do not disclose the thesis (disclosure is required but thesis origin is acceptable).

How similarity reports are judged

JMIDH does not rely on a single percentage. Editors examine where overlap occurs, its source and extent. Overlap in standard methods descriptions or definitions, properly cited, is usually acceptable; copied text in the Introduction, Results or Discussion is not.

Actions

At submission (minor): Returned to authors for correction before review

At submission or review (substantial): Rejection; the authors may be informed of the reasons; institution may be notified in serious cases

After publication: Investigation under COPE flowcharts; correction or retraction; institution notified where appropriate