Plagiarism Policy

Last updated: April 13, 2026

RSYN PRESS takes plagiarism and self-plagiarism seriously. Our policy is informed by COPE guidelines and the STM Association guidelines on text recycling.

1. Definition

Plagiarism occurs when an author uses another's words, ideas, or work without appropriate acknowledgement or permission. Forms of plagiarism include:

Verbatim copying without quotation marks and citation
Near-verbatim copying with minor changes
Paraphrasing another's ideas without citation
Self-plagiarism: reusing substantial portions of one's own prior published work without disclosure
Ghost-writing or contract cheating

2. Detection

All submitted manuscripts undergo automated similarity checking prior to peer review. We use industry-standard tools consistent with those recommended by COPE's guidance on text recycling. A similarity score alone is not proof of plagiarism; the editorial team evaluates all flagged content in context.

3. Threshold

A similarity index above 20% (excluding references and standard phrases) will trigger additional editorial review. Manuscripts with more than 30% similarity from a single source will normally be rejected without peer review.

4. Consequences

Pre-publication: Manuscripts found to contain plagiarised content will be rejected immediately and the authors notified.
Post-publication: Published articles confirmed to contain plagiarism will be retracted in accordance with our Retraction Policy and the COPE Retraction Guidelines.
Authors' institutions may be informed of confirmed cases of plagiarism.

5. Acceptable Text Reuse

Authors may reuse limited portions of their own prior work (methods sections, for example) provided this is disclosed explicitly in the manuscript. Quoting another's work of up to 100 words with full citation is generally acceptable. Authors seeking guidance should consult COPE's Text Recycling Guidelines.