Plagiarism Policy

The Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies (JECS) has a strict policy against plagiarism in any form, including self-plagiarism. Authors must not present the ideas, data, or words of others as their own, and they must provide proper citation and attribution for all sources. Similarly, authors must not reuse substantial parts of their own previously published work without appropriate referencing.

1. Plagiarism Screening

All submissions are screened for originality using professional plagiarism detection software (iThenticate) before being sent to reviewers. In addition, reviewers are instructed to evaluate any potential overlaps with existing literature.

2. Plagiarism Thresholds and Actions

Similarity Rate	Action
< 5% (excluding references, quotations, and methodological phrases)	Acceptable. The manuscript proceeds to peer review.
5–35% similarity	The manuscript will be returned to the authors for revision and resubmission. Authors must reduce overlap and properly cite all sources.
> 35% similarity	The manuscript will be rejected without review.

Detected plagiarism in published articles will result in retraction in line with the COPE Retraction Guidelines.

3. Citation Manipulation

Citation manipulation, including inappropriate self-citation, coercive citation practices, and artificial inflation of citation counts, is also considered a form of research misconduct. Any evidence of citation manipulation in submitted or published manuscripts will be handled in accordance with COPE guidelines.

4. Author Confirmation

By submitting to JECS, authors confirm that their manuscript is original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. They also confirm that any potential conflicts of interest, funding sources, and use of generative AI tools (if applicable) are disclosed in accordance with our Publication Ethics Policy.