Plagiarism Policy

The Journal of BioNano Aquatic Science and Technology (JBAST) applies Zero tolerance towards plagiarism and therefore establishes the following policy stating specific actions (penalties) when plagiarism is identified in an article that is submitted for publication in JBAST.

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Policy: Papers must be original, unpublished, and not pending publication elsewhere.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 clearly 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.

All submitted papers will be checked for their similarity by the Turnitin software.

When plagiarism is identified, the Principal Editor 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:

Similarity level

JBAST practices Zero tolerance towards plagiarism. We use Turnitin to evaluate the similarity index and then the editor decides the case of possible plagiarism (Similarity report will be provided to the author). The Editorial Board has passed the following actions:
1. Similarity Index above 50%: Article Rejected (due to poor citation and/or poor paraphrasing, article outright rejected, NO RESUBMISSION accepted).
2. Similarity Index (20-50%): Send to the author for improvement (provide correct citations to all places of similarity and do good paraphrasing even if the citation is provided).
3. Similarity index Less than 20%: Accepted or citation improvement may be required (proper citations must be provided to all outsourced texts).
In cases 2 and 3: The authors should revise the article carefully, add required citations, and do good paraphrasing to outsourced text. And resubmit the article with a new Turnitin report showing NO PLAGIARISM and similarity less than 20% and no more than 3% for each similarity source.

Plagiarism, similarity, and paraphrasing

For example, the following presents the difference between plagiarism, similarity, and paraphrasing sentences by citing the source.

Additional information

Authors are fully responsible for the content of the manuscripts they submit, as they must confirm the originality statement and acknowledge that they have read the plagiarism policy prior to submission. If a second instance of severe plagiarism is identified involving the same author(s), the Editorial Board will determine the appropriate sanctions, which may include a permanent ban on future submissions.

This policy also covers material reused from an author’s own previously published work. If an author includes text or figures that have appeared before, the relevant sections or figures must be clearly indicated and the original source cited. It is also recognized that review or tutorial articles may legitimately contain substantial content that has been published previously.

Authors must clearly cite the original source of any previously published material and obtain the necessary permissions from the original author and publisher. If a manuscript submitted to JBAST substantially overlaps with another manuscript being submitted to a different journal at the same time, and this is identified during peer review or after both papers are published, the editor of the other journal will be informed and the matter will be handled as a case of severe plagiarism. “Significant overlap” refers to the reuse of identical or nearly identical figures and text that is identical or only slightly modified in half or more of the manuscript. Self-plagiarism involving more than one-tenth but less than one-half of the paper is classified as intermediate plagiarism. If the overlap is limited to the methods section, it is considered minor plagiarism.

If an author reuses portions of previously published work to help explain new results, the reused content must be clearly indicated and the distinctions between the earlier publication and the current manuscript should be stated. Authors must also secure permission to republish from the copyright holder. For manuscripts that first appeared in conference proceedings and are later submitted to JBAST in identical or expanded form, the authors must disclose the proceedings title and publication date and obtain republication permission from the copyright holder; the editor may choose not to accept the submission. However, authors are allowed to reuse material from an unpublished presentation, including visual materials, in a subsequent journal article. If the submitted work was originally published in another language, authors must disclose the original title, date, and journal, and obtain the necessary copyright permission.