Plagiarism and Retractions

The Editorial Board of Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal recognizes that plagiarism is unacceptable and therefore establishes the following policy stating specific actions (penalties) when plagiarism is identified in an article submitted for publication. Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal uses Turnitin Originality Checking Software and Plagiarism Checker as tools to detect similarities in submitted manuscripts.

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Papers submitted to Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Any material taken verbatim from another source must be clearly identified as different from the present original text by:

Indentation
Use of quotation marks
Proper identification of the source

Any text exceeding fair use standards (defined as more than two or three sentences or the equivalent) or any graphic material reproduced from another source requires permission from the copyright holder and, if feasible, the original author(s), along with clear identification of the source.

When plagiarism is identified, the Editor-in-Chief responsible for the review process will determine appropriate actions according to the extent of plagiarism detected, based on the following guidelines.

Level of Plagiarism

Minor Plagiarism

A short section of another article is plagiarized without any significant data or ideas being taken.

Action:

A warning will be given to the authors and they will be asked to revise the text and properly cite the original article.

Intermediate Plagiarism

A significant portion of a paper is plagiarized without proper citation to the original paper.

Action:

The submitted article will be rejected and the authors will be prohibited from submitting articles to Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal for one year.

Severe Plagiarism

A significant portion of a paper is plagiarized, involving reproduction of original results or ideas presented in another publication.

Action:

The paper will be rejected and the authors will be prohibited from submitting articles to Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal for three years.

It is understood that all authors are responsible for the content of their submitted manuscript, as they have read and understood the copyright and licensing terms of Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal. If a penalty is imposed for plagiarism, all authors will be subject to the same penalty.

If a second case of plagiarism involving the same author(s) is identified, the Editorial Board (Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Members) will determine additional sanctions. The author(s) may be permanently prohibited from submitting manuscripts to Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal.

This policy also applies to material reproduced from another publication by the same author(s). If an author uses previously published text or figures, the corresponding sections must be identified and the previous publication must be cited properly.

In review papers or tutorial papers, previously published material may be used; however, the author must clearly identify the source and obtain permission from the original author and publisher when required.

If an author submits a manuscript to Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal that substantially overlaps with another manuscript submitted elsewhere simultaneously, and this overlap is discovered during review or after publication, the case will be treated as severe plagiarism.

Significant overlap means the use of identical or nearly identical figures and identical or slightly modified text for one-half or more of the manuscript.

Self-plagiarism involving less than one-half but more than one-tenth of the manuscript will be treated as intermediate plagiarism.
Self-plagiarism limited to the methods section will be treated as minor plagiarism.

If an author uses previously published material to clarify new findings, the reused material must be identified clearly and differences from the current publication must be explained. Permission to republish must be obtained from the copyright holder.

For manuscripts previously published in conference proceedings and later submitted to Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal, either in identical or expanded form, the authors must:

Identify the conference proceedings
Mention the publication date
Obtain permission from the copyright holder

The editor may decide not to accept such papers for publication.

Authors are permitted to use material from unpublished presentations, including visual materials, in subsequent journal publications.

For manuscripts translated from another language, authors must identify the title, date, and journal of the original publication and obtain copyright permission. The editor may accept translated publications to reach a wider audience.

The editor may also choose to republish specific important or historic papers to provide broader context for a series of articles published in Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal. Such republications will be clearly identified and permission from both authors and publishers must be obtained.

The layout editor of Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal is responsible for maintaining records of authors subject to sanctions and ensuring banned authors do not submit manuscripts. If a banned author is identified, the layout editor will inform the Editor-in-Chief for further action.

This policy will be displayed on the journal website and included in the manuscript submission instructions.

Retraction and/or Corrections

Authors are discouraged from withdrawing submitted manuscripts once they have entered the publication process (review, copyediting, layout, etc.), because the journal has already invested significant resources and time.

If authors still request withdrawal under special circumstances, they may be required to compensate the journal for editorial processing costs amounting to US $100, payable after official request through email correspondence with the editorial office of Agribusiness and Integrated Farming System Journal.

Editors Shall Consider Retracting a Publication If:

There is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable due to misconduct (e.g., data fabrication) or honest error (e.g., miscalculation or experimental error)
The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper citation, permission, or justification
The publication constitutes plagiarism
The publication reports unethical research

Editors Shall Consider Issuing an Expression of Concern If:

There is inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct
There is evidence that findings are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case
An investigation is unfair, inconclusive, or delayed for an extended period

Editors Shall Consider Issuing a Correction If:

A small portion of an otherwise reliable publication proves misleading because of honest error
The author/contributor list is incorrect (e.g., omitted deserving author or inclusion of non-qualified contributor)

The retraction mechanism follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), available at:

https://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines.pdf