Plagiarism Control Policy

Publicus systematically implements plagiarism screening for all submissions in order to uphold academic ethical principles and preserve scientific originality.

Screening at the Submission Stage: During the manuscript submission process, authors are required to upload a similarity (plagiarism) report together with their manuscript. Where applicable, an ethics committee approval document must also be submitted. The plagiarism report must be generated exclusively iThenticate or Turnitin software.

In cases where authors do not have access to these software tools, the similarity report is obtained by the editorial board and uploaded to the submission system. This ensures that all manuscripts undergo a standardized and equitable screening process. The submitted reports are reviewed by the editorial board in accordance with the following criteria:

  • The overall similarity rate, excluding references and bibliography, must not exceed 20%.
  • High similarity rates originating from a single source are subject to additional evaluation.
  • The conformity of quotations with academic writing and citation standards is examined.

Manuscripts that exceed the threshold or raise suspicion of academic ethical violations are not sent for peer review and are returned to the author. Where necessary, authors may be requested to revise and resubmit their work.

Post-Publication Ethical Violation Procedure: If plagiarism or any academic ethical violation is identified after publication, the editorial office initiates an investigation. The review process is conducted in accordance with established academic publishing ethics standards and the principles of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

If an ethical violation is confirmed, the article may be retracted, a correction may be issued, or other appropriate editorial actions may be taken. Decisions are publicly announced in line with the principle of transparency.

Publicus adheres to the principle of academic integrity and applies a zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism and ethical misconduct.