Plagiarism and Similarity Screening Policy

Originality • Proper Attribution • Responsible Scholarship

Salus Publica: Journal of Community Service requires all submitted manuscripts to represent original scholarly work and to provide appropriate acknowledgment of the ideas, words, data, images, methods, and other intellectual contributions of others. Plagiarism in any form is considered a breach of publication ethics.

Plagiarism Includes, but Is Not Limited to

• Copying text verbatim from another source without proper quotation, citation, or attribution.
• Paraphrasing or summarizing another person's ideas, arguments, interpretations, or findings without appropriate citation.
• Presenting another person's ideas, concepts, methods, or intellectual contributions as one's own.
• Using data, research findings, tables, figures, images, charts, or other materials without proper acknowledgment or permission where permission is required.
• Reusing substantial portions of one's own previously published work without appropriate citation or disclosure (text recycling or self-plagiarism).
• Submitting work written or produced substantially by another person while representing it as the author's own contribution.
• Failing to identify or cite the source of direct quotations.
• Misrepresenting, obscuring, or falsely attributing the original source of information, data, ideas, or content.
• Duplicate or redundant publication of substantially the same work without appropriate disclosure or justification.

Similarity Is Not the Same as Plagiarism

A similarity percentage is a technical indicator of textual overlap and does not, by itself, establish whether plagiarism has occurred. Similarity reports must therefore be interpreted in context by the editorial team. Properly quoted text, references, standard technical expressions, methodological descriptions, and other legitimate overlaps may contribute to a similarity score without constituting plagiarism.

Similarity Screening

Submitted manuscripts may be screened using Turnitin or another appropriate similarity-detection system as part of the journal's editorial quality-control process.

As an internal screening guideline, the journal generally expects manuscripts to have an overall similarity score of no more than 20%, after considering legitimate exclusions such as references, quoted material, standard expressions, and other non-problematic overlap where appropriate.

Meeting the similarity threshold does not automatically guarantee acceptance, and exceeding the threshold does not automatically prove plagiarism. The editorial decision is based on a qualitative assessment of the nature, source, extent, and context of the detected overlap.

Editorial Action

When problematic overlap or suspected plagiarism is identified, the editor may take appropriate action depending on the nature and severity of the case.

• Request clarification or supporting information from the author(s);
• Request revision and proper citation or attribution;
• Return the manuscript before peer review for substantial correction;
• Reject the manuscript when serious plagiarism or unethical reuse is identified;
• Suspend or terminate consideration of the submission in cases of serious publication misconduct; or
• Take appropriate post-publication action if plagiarism is identified after publication.

Plagiarism Identified After Publication

If credible evidence of plagiarism or substantial unethical reuse is identified after publication, the journal will evaluate the case in accordance with its Publication Ethics policy and may publish a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other appropriate notice to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.

Author Responsibility

Authors remain responsible for ensuring the originality of their manuscripts, the accuracy of citations and quotations, and the lawful use of copyrighted or third-party materials. Similarity screening by the journal does not transfer this responsibility from the authors to the journal, editors, reviewers, or publisher.