Manuscripts must be original and must acknowledge the sources of text, ideas, data, figures, and other material. Authors must disclose overlap with their own prior work, including preprints, and obtain permission where required for third-party content.
Editorial assessment
Editors may examine textual overlap and other indicators of duplication using available screening resources and expert judgement. A similarity percentage is not, by itself, a finding of plagiarism. Editors consider the location, nature, extent, attribution, and context of the overlap. Properly attributed quotations and standard methodological language are assessed in context.
Response to concerns
Authors may be asked to explain or correct problematic overlap. Depending on the evidence and stage of publication, the journal may request revision, reject a submission, publish a correction, or retract an article. Serious concerns may be referred to an institution or other responsible body. Decisions are documented and proportionate; automatic lifetime bans or automatic decisions based only on a numerical score are not part of this policy.