Research integrity and plagiarism
How we check originality and what happens when a problem is found. Based on the UGC Regulations, 2018.
Our approach
Honest scholarship depends on giving credit where it's due. CIJAR follows the University Grants Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018, and applies their definitions, thresholds and penalty levels to every manuscript we receive.
The UGC defines academic integrity as intellectual honesty in proposing, performing and reporting any activity that creates intellectual property. We expect it from authors, reviewers and editors alike. This policy covers all article types and applies at submission, during revision and after publication.
What counts as plagiarism
Plagiarism means presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own. In practice, that includes:
- copying text word for word without quotation marks and a citation;
- paraphrasing another author's work without acknowledging it;
- using someone else's data, figures, tables, images or ideas without citing them;
- reusing your own published work without saying so (self-plagiarism);
- submitting text produced by AI tools as your own without disclosure.
How we check
Your declaration
With your submission, sign an undertaking that the paper is your original work, hasn't been published or submitted elsewhere, has been checked with a plagiarism tool, cites all its sources, and has the approval of every co-author. For work from a Master's, M.Phil. or Ph.D. project, the supervisor also certifies that it is free of plagiarism.
Our screening
We screen every manuscript with Turnitin before it goes to review, and again before publication. You're also asked to include a similarity report from a recognised tool, such as Turnitin, iThenticate, Drillbit or ShodhShuddhi.
How the score is calculated
Following Regulation 7 of the UGC Regulations, these are left out before the similarity percentage is worked out:
- quoted material that has permission or proper attribution;
- references, bibliography, table of contents, preface and acknowledgements;
- generic terms, laws, standard symbols and standard equations;
- common knowledge or coincidental phrases of up to 14 consecutive words.
The levels below always refer to the percentage after these exclusions, not the raw score.
Similarity levels and outcomes
We use the four levels set by the UGC, with the outcomes that Regulation 12.2 prescribes for research publications.
What institutions may do
For authors in Indian higher education, the UGC framework lets institutions impose their own penalties: at Level 2, denial of one annual increment and a two-year bar on supervising new Master's, M.Phil. or Ph.D. students; at Level 3, denial of two successive increments and a three-year bar. Where appropriate, we share our findings with the author's Institutional Academic Integrity Panel so it can decide.
Repeat cases
A second offence is treated one level higher than the first. A second Level 3 case leads to a permanent bar from CIJAR and a report to the author's institution.
Problems found after publication
If plagiarism is confirmed in a published article, we publish a correction, an expression of concern or a retraction, permanently linked to the article and stating the reason. Any credit gained from the article may be suspended.
Self-plagiarism and AI
Reusing your own work
You can build on your earlier papers, conference presentations or thesis, but cite them, and get permission from the original publisher where needed. Presenting substantial parts of previously published work as new is treated like any other plagiarism.
Generative AI
The 2018 Regulations don't cover AI, so we follow emerging academic practice: disclose any use of tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude in your methods or acknowledgements, saying what you used them for and how you checked the results. Undisclosed AI-generated text is treated as a breach of integrity. AI can't be listed as an author.
Raising and investigating concerns
Reporting a concern
Anyone who suspects plagiarism in a submitted or published paper can write to the editors with supporting evidence. The editors may also act on their own initiative.
Who decides
Cases are considered by an Editorial Integrity Committee: the Editor-in-Chief or a senior nominee as chair, at least one senior academic from outside the editorial board, and one member experienced with plagiarism-detection tools. Anyone with a conflict of interest steps aside.
A fair process
The author is told what the concern is and given a chance to respond. We aim to reach a reasoned decision within 45 days. Penalties are applied only once misconduct is clearly established and the author has had the opportunity to appeal.
Appeals
You can appeal a finding within 30 days by sending a written explanation and supporting evidence. The committee reviews the appeal and gives a final decision.
Avoiding problems
- Use a reference manager such as Zotero, Mendeley or EndNote from the start of your research.
- Put exact wording in quotation marks and cite it; when you paraphrase, still cite the source.
- Cite your own earlier work whenever you reuse any of it.
- Run a similarity check yourself before you submit.
- Disclose any AI assistance.
- Send the paper to one journal at a time.
We may update this policy if the UGC amends its regulations or practice changes. The current version is always the one on this page.
Questions about this policy? Write to editor@cijar.org.
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Original work, double-blind review, no fees.