As part of its plagiarism policy, The North J Med Sci mandates a similarity index of 15% or less for the acceptance of a submitted manuscript, utilizing the turnitin® software for detecting similarity indices. Manuscripts with a similarity index between 15%-28% necessitate author review, while a similarity index of 28% or more is considered grounds for rejection. According to the NJMS’s plagiarism policy:
Every author listed on the manuscript is accountable for the intellectual integrity of the submitted work. The Northern Journal of Medical Sciences requires all authors to acknowledge and accept this responsibility, in addition to affirming that no portion of the submitted manuscript has been plagiarized.
The North J Med Sci reserves the right to request any related material at any stage of the review process and requires authors to use referenced material according to the North J Med Sci author guidelines. To combat the practice of “salami slicing” / duplicate publication / redundant publication, the North J Med Sci has implemented a strict disciplinary policy that ranges from rejection of the submitted manuscript to a ban on the author(s) from future publications in the North J Med Sci.
The North J Med Sci also discourages “self-plagiarism”. Any material sourced from the authors’ previous work, if not properly referenced, will be rejected.
In accordance with the plagiarism policy, all submitted manuscripts will undergo a plagiarism check via the Turnitin evaluation for all manuscripts as mandated by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. A similarity index of 15% or less is required for acceptance into the review process. If the similarity index exceeds 15%, the authors will be required to explain / correct the similarity index within a 30-day timeframe, during which the review process will be paused.
The North J Med Sci editorial board will handle each plagiarized article / manuscript on a case-by-case basis. If the author provides an acceptable explanation for the increased similarity index of the submitted manuscript, the editor may decide to resume the review process after the authors implement changes in the manuscript as suggested by the editors.
If the author(s) do not respond in time or are unable to justify the increased similarity index of their manuscript, the manuscript will be discussed in an editorial board meeting to decide further action. As mentioned above, the further action by the editorial board may range from rejection of the manuscript to banning the author(s) from publishing in the North J Med Sci for a specified or indefinite period of time. The editorial board will announce such decisions in the forthcoming issues of North J Med Sci on a numbered page, clearly explaining the reasons for such action in addition to the biographical information of the authors.
In cases where a published article is proven to be plagiarized, the editor will be obliged to withdraw the article from the journal website, Medline and other indices and will announce the decision of withdrawal of the article, clearly citing plagiarism as the reason for doing so.
The North J Med Sci recommends the following sources for further information on this issue, where applicable:
1: Guidelines for authors by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) website: http://www.icmje.org/
2: Plagiarism Policy (pdf file) of the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan.
3: Guidelines (PDF file) by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for interpretation of turnitin reports.
The little book of plagiarism (pdf file), published by the Higher Education of Pakistan is a good first book to update oneself about plagiarism and how to avoid it.