Plagiarism Screening

The AGROTEK Editorial Board recognizes that plagiarism is not acceptable and therefore establishes the following policy stating specific actions (penalties) upon identification of plagiarism/similarities in articles submitted for publication in AGROTEK. AGROTEK will use Turnitin's originality checking software as the tool in detecting similarities of texts in article manuscripts and the final version of articles ready for publication. A maximum of 25% of similarity is allowed for the submitted papers. Should we find more than 25% of the similarity index, the article will be returned to the author for correction and resubmission.

Definition:

Plagiarism involves the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work."

Policy:

Papers must be original, unpublished, and not pending publication elsewhere. Any material taken verbatim from another source needs to be clearly identified as different from the present original text by:

Indentation
Use of quotation marks
Identification of the source

Any text exceeding fair use standards (herein defined as more than two or three sentences or the equivalent thereof) or any graphic material reproduced from another source requires permission from the copyright holder and, if feasible, the original author(s), and also requires identification of the source (e.g., previous publication).

When plagiarism is identified, the Editor-in-Chief responsible for the review of the paper will agree on measures according to the extent of plagiarism, based on the following guidelines:

Level of Plagiarism

Minor:
A short section of another article is plagiarized without any significant data or idea taken from the original paper.
Action: A warning is given to the authors and a request to change the text and properly cite the original article is made.

Intermediate:
A significant portion of a paper is plagiarized without proper citation.
Action: The submitted article is rejected, and the authors are prohibited from submitting further articles for one year.

Severe:
A significant portion of a paper is plagiarized that involves reproducing original results or ideas.
Action: The paper is rejected, and the authors are prohibited from submitting articles for five years.

It is understood that all authors are responsible for the content of their submitted paper as they all read and understand AGROTEK’s Copyright and Licensing Terms. If a penalty is imposed for plagiarism, all authors will be subject to the same penalty.

In the event of a second plagiarism case by the same author(s), the Editorial Board (Editor-in-Chief and Editorial members) together with the Chair of the Editorial Board may decide to ban the author(s) permanently.

This policy also applies to material reused from the same author's previous publications. Authors must properly cite previously published material and obtain permission when necessary.

If an author submits a manuscript to AGROTEK that overlaps significantly with one submitted elsewhere, and this is discovered during review or post-publication, the editor of the other journal will be notified. The case will be treated as severe plagiarism if:

There is identical or slightly modified content constituting over 50% of the paper.

Cases where 10–50% overlap occurs will be treated as intermediate plagiarism, unless limited to the methods section, in which case it will be considered minor.

In all cases where previously published material is used to clarify new results, it must be properly cited and distinguished from new content.

For manuscripts originally published in conference proceedings and submitted to AGROTEK in identical or expanded form, the original conference must be identified and permission to republish obtained.

Translations of previously published material must identify the original publication and obtain copyright permissions.

The AGROTEK Editorial Board may republish selected articles (e.g., historic papers) for academic purposes, with proper acknowledgment and permission.

The AGROTEK Layout Editor is responsible for maintaining and checking the list of penalized authors. Any attempt to submit by a banned author will be flagged, and the Editor-in-Chief will be notified for appropriate action.

This policy will be posted on the AGROTEK website along with submission instructions and will be sent to authors upon receipt of their manuscript.

Retraction and/or Corrections

Authors are discouraged from withdrawing manuscripts once they are in the publication process. If withdrawal is still requested, the author(s) must email the AGROTEK Editor using the same address used in prior correspondence.

AGROTEK editors shall consider retraction if:

Findings are proven unreliable (e.g., major errors, data fabrication or falsification)
Plagiarism is confirmed
The article duplicates previously published work without proper attribution
Use of unauthorized material or data
Copyright infringement or legal issues arise
The article is the result of unethical research
Peer review was compromised
Conflict of interest was undisclosed and would have affected editorial decisions

Retraction Notices Will:

Be linked to the article
Clearly identify the retracted article
Be labeled clearly as a retraction
Be published promptly and freely accessible
State the reason and who is retracting
Be factual and neutral

Retraction is not usually appropriate if:

Authorship is disputed, but the work is valid
Findings are valid and a correction can resolve the issue
The case is inconclusive or under investigation
Conflicts of interest are minor or discovered post-publication

Expressions of Concern may be issued when:

Evidence of misconduct is inconclusive
Institutions refuse to investigate suspected issues
An investigation is expected to be prolonged
The review process is unfair or biased

Corrections will be issued if:

A small portion of the article is misleading
The author list is incorrect

AGROTEK follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).