Plagiarism Policy

The Innovative Journal of Educational Research and Insights (IJERI) maintains a strict policy against plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts are required to be the original work of the author(s) and must not contain any form of plagiarism. Plagiarism is considered a serious violation of academic ethics and can lead to the rejection of the manuscript or retraction of the published paper.

1. Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the unethical practice of using another author’s ideas, language, data, or expressions without proper acknowledgment. It includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Direct Plagiarism: Copying another person’s work word-for-word without quotation marks or proper citation.
Self-Plagiarism: Reusing significant portions of one's own previously published work without acknowledging that it has already appeared elsewhere. This includes submitting the same paper to multiple journals or reusing parts of a previously published paper (text, data, or figures) without citation.
Mosaic Plagiarism: Paraphrasing another person’s work without sufficient acknowledgment or by slightly altering their words while retaining the same structure and meaning.
Uncited Paraphrasing: Rewriting someone else’s ideas in your own words without providing proper citation.

2. Plagiarism Detection

IJERI employs plagiarism detection tools to screen all submitted manuscripts before the peer review process begins. Manuscripts with a similarity index that exceeds an acceptable threshold or contain unacknowledged borrowed content will be immediately flagged for further scrutiny.

Pre-submission Checks: Authors are encouraged to use plagiarism checking software prior to submission to ensure the originality of their manuscript.
Post-submission Checks: All manuscripts submitted to IJERI undergo plagiarism screening using advanced plagiarism detection tools such as Turnitin or similar software.

3. Actions Taken in Cases of Plagiarism

Depending on the extent of the plagiarism detected, IJERI will take the following actions:

Minor Overlap (less than 10%): If a small portion of the manuscript is found to be plagiarized, the authors will be asked to revise the manuscript and properly cite the original sources.
Moderate Plagiarism (10-30%): If moderate plagiarism is detected, the manuscript will be returned to the authors for major revisions. The authors must address all instances of plagiarism and resubmit the manuscript with corrected citations and proper acknowledgment.
Severe Plagiarism (more than 30%): In cases where significant portions of the manuscript are plagiarized, the submission will be rejected outright. Authors of such manuscripts may be barred from future submissions to the journal.

4. Post-Publication Plagiarism

If plagiarism is discovered after the manuscript has been published, IJERI will take the following steps:

Retraction: The article will be retracted, and a retraction notice will be issued, indicating the reasons for retraction and the original sources of plagiarized content.
Public Disclosure: The case of plagiarism may be publicly disclosed on the journal’s website, including the names of the authors involved.
Author Ban: Authors found guilty of plagiarism may be blacklisted from future submissions to IJERI, and their institutions may be notified.

5. Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

All sources, quotations, and data borrowed from other works are properly cited and acknowledged.
Their work is entirely original and does not reproduce substantial portions of their own previously published work without citation (self-plagiarism).
The manuscript does not contain any form of plagiarized content and adheres to ethical research and publishing practices.

6. Appeals

Authors have the right to appeal a plagiarism accusation. Appeals must be made in writing to the editorial office with detailed explanations and evidence refuting the plagiarism claim. The editorial board will review the case and make a final decision.

7. Consequences for Reviewers

If reviewers or editorial staff are found guilty of plagiarizing content in their own reviews, comments, or suggestions, they will be removed from the journal’s reviewer pool and may face further professional or institutional consequences.

IJERI is committed to upholding the principles of academic integrity and will take all necessary measures to address plagiarism in any form. Authors are encouraged to ensure the originality of their work and to maintain the highest ethical standards in their research and writing practices.