AJCA takes plagiarism very seriously. All submissions are screened for plagiarism using industry-standard detection software before entering the peer-review process. The journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for handling all cases of suspected plagiarism.
Definition of Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's ideas, words, data, or creative works, presented as one's own original work. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Direct copying of text, images, or data without quotation marks and citation.
- Paraphrasing another's work without proper acknowledgment.
- Self-plagiarism, or the reuse of one's own previously published work without disclosure.
- Mosaic plagiarism, or mixing copied phrases into original text.
Screening Process
Every manuscript submitted to AJCA is checked for similarity against a vast database of scholarly literature, web sources, and previously published content. Manuscripts with a similarity index above the acceptable threshold, or with significant verbatim overlap, are returned to the authors for revision or rejected outright.
Consequences of Plagiarism
Before Publication
The manuscript is rejected, and the authors may be barred from future submissions to the journal.
After Publication
The article may be retracted, a notice of plagiarism published, and the matter reported to the authors' institutions.
Authors are responsible for ensuring their work is original and appropriately attributed. By submitting to AJCA, authors confirm that their manuscript is their original work and has not been published elsewhere.