Plagiarism

International Journal on Data Science (IJoDS) editorial board recognizes that plagiarism is unacceptable and therefore establishes the following policy stating specific actions (penalties) upon identifying plagiarism/similarities in articles submitted for publication in IJoDS. IJoDS will use Turnitin's originality checking software to detect similarities of texts in article manuscripts and the final version of articles ready for publication. A maximum of 15% of similarities is allowed for the submitted papers. Should we find more than 15% of the similarity index, the article will be returned to the author for correction and resubmission. If, for some reason that the second submission still has more than 15% similarities, the manuscript will be rejected. No exclusions are used in the similarity-checking software. With that statement clear, below are the definitions IJoDS follows regarding plagiarism.

Definition:

Plagiarism involves the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work."

Policy:

Papers must be original, unpublished, and not pending publication elsewhere. Any material taken verbatim from another source needs to be identified as different from the present original text by (1) indentation, (2) use of quotation marks, and (3) identification of the source.

Any text of an amount exceeding fair use standards (herein defined as more than two or three sentences or the equivalent thereof) or any graphic material reproduced from another source requires permission from the copyright holder and, if feasible, the original author(s) and also requires identification of the source; e.g., previous publication.

When plagiarism is identified, the Editor in Chief is responsible for the review of this paper and will agree on measures according to the extent of plagiarism detected in the paper in agreement with the following guidelines:

Level of Plagiarism

Minor:

A short section of another article is plagiarized without any significant data or idea taken from the other paper

Action: A warning is given to the authors, and a request to change the text and properly cite the original article is made

Intermediate: A significant portion of a paper is plagiarized without proper citation to the original paper

Action: The submitted article is rejected, and the authors are forbidden to submit further articles for one year

Severe: A significant portion of a paper is plagiarized that involves reproducing original results or ideas presented in another publication

Action: The paper is rejected, and the authors are forbidden to submit further articles for five years.

It is understood that all authors are responsible for the content of their submitted paper as they all read and understand IJoDS's Copyright and Licensing Terms. If a penalty is imposed for plagiarism, all authors will be subject to the same penalty.

Suppose the second case of plagiarism by the same author(s) is identified. In that case, a decision on the measures to be enforced will be made by the Editorial board (Editor-in-Chief and Editorial members) with the Chair of the Editor in Chief. The author(s) might be forbidden to submit further articles forever.

This policy also applies to material reproduced from another publication by the same author(s). If an author uses text or figures that have previously been published, the corresponding paragraphs or figures should be identified and the previous publication referenced. It is understood that much of the material was previously published in the case of a review paper or a paper of a tutorial nature.

The author should identify the source of the previously published material and obtain permission from the original author and the publisher. If an author submits a manuscript to IJoDS 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 editor of the other journal is notified. The case is treated as a severe plagiarism case. Significant overlap means using identical or almost identical figures and identical or slightly modified text for one-half or more of the paper. For self-plagiarism of less than one-half of the paper but more than one-tenth of the paper, the case shall be treated as intermediate plagiarism. If self-plagiarism is confined to the methods section, the case shall be considered minor plagiarism.

Suppose an author uses some of his previously published material to clarify the presentation of new results. In that case, the previously published material shall be identified, and the difference to the present publication shall be mentioned. Permission to republish must be obtained from the copyright holder. In the case of a manuscript originally published in conference proceedings and then submitted for publication in IJoDS either in identical or expanded form, the authors must identify the name of the conference proceedings and the date of the publication and obtain permission to republish from the copyright holder. The editor may decide not to accept this paper for publication.

However, an author shall be permitted to use material from an unpublished presentation, including visual displays, in a subsequent journal publication. In the case of a submitted publication originally published in another language, the authors must identify the original publication's title, date, and journal, and the copyright must be obtained. The editor may accept such a translated publication to bring it to the attention of a wider audience. The editor may select a specific paper that had been published (e.g. a “historic” paper) for republication to provide a better perspective of a series of papers published in one issue of IJoDS. This republication shall be identified as such, and the date and journal of the original publication shall be given. The permission of the author(s) and the publisher shall be obtained.

The IJoDS layout editor for the Journal is responsible for maintaining the list of authors subjected to penalties and will check that no authors of a submitted paper are on this list. If a banned author is identified, the layout editor will inform the Editor-in-Chief, who will take appropriate measures. This policy will be posted on the website with the instructions for submitting a manuscript. Upon initial receipt of their original manuscript, a copy will be sent to the authors with the confirmation email.

Retractions and Corrections

Authors are discouraged from withdrawing submitted manuscripts after it is in the publication process (review, copyedit, layout, etc.). During that time, IJoDS had spent valuable resources besides time spent in the process. Should the author(s) still request a withdrawal, the author(s) must send an email to IJoDS's editor using the same email address used in correspondence.

IJoDS's editors shall consider retracting a publication if:

• They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of a major error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error) or as a result of fabrication (e.g., of data) or falsification (e.g., image manipulation)
• It constitutes plagiarism
• The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution to previous sources or disclosure to the editor, permission to republish, or justification (i.e., cases of redundant publication)
• It contains material or data without authorization for use
• Copyright has been infringed, or there is some other serious legal issue (e.g., libel, privacy)
• It reports unethical research
• It has been published solely based on a compromised or manipulated peer review process
• The author(s) failed to disclose a major competing interest (a.k.a. conflict of interest) that, in the editor's view, would have unduly affected interpretations of the work or recommendations by editors and peer reviewers.

Notices of retraction would:

• Be linked to the retracted article wherever possible (i.e., in all online versions)
• Identify the retracted article (e.g., by including the title and authors in the retraction heading or citing the retracted article)
• Be identified as a retraction (i.e., distinct from other types of correction or comment)
• Be published promptly to minimize the harmful effects
• Be freely available to all readers (i.e., not behind access barriers or available only to subscribers)
• State who is retracting the article
• State the reason(s) for retraction
• Be objective, factual and avoid inflammatory language

IJoDS's editors shall consider issuing an expression of concern if:

• they receive inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors
• there is evidence that the findings are unreliable, but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case
• they believe that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been or would not be fair and impartial or conclusive
• an investigation is underway, but a judgment will not be available for a considerable time

IJoDS's editors shall consider issuing a correction if:

• a small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading (especially because of honest error)
• the author/contributor list is incorrect (i.e. a deserving author has been omitted, or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included)