Plagiarism Screening Policy

Policies

Plagiarism Screening Policy

 

Every manuscript is screened before review and again before publication.

Radiology Research Journal (RRJ) requires that all submitted work be original. Every manuscript is screened using Turnitin at two points: immediately after the technical check, before it is sent to reviewers, and again after acceptance, before it enters production. Authors are encouraged to screen their own manuscript before submitting.

Similarity Thresholds
20%
Maximum Overall Similarity
The total similarity index for the manuscript, excluding the reference list.
[5%]
Maximum From a Single Source
No individual source may account for more than this share, regardless of the overall figure.
0%
Tolerance for Verbatim Copying
Uncited verbatim text is unacceptable at any percentage, including within the Methods.
The percentage is not the whole judgement. A similarity index is a starting point, not a verdict. A report of 12% consisting of a single copied paragraph is a more serious matter than 22% distributed across correctly cited standard terminology, equipment names, and established methodological phrasing. Every report is read by an editor, and the decision rests on the nature and location of the matched text, not the number alone.
Forms of Plagiarism Recognised by the Journal
Verbatim Plagiarism
Copying text word for word without quotation marks and citation.
Mosaic or Patchwork Plagiarism
Interweaving phrases from several sources, or substituting synonyms while retaining the original sentence structure.
Inadequate Paraphrasing
Restating another author's idea in different words but without attribution. Citation is required even when no words are shared.
Self-Plagiarism and Text Recycling
Reusing one's own previously published text without citation. Limited reuse of established methods descriptions is acceptable if cited.
Data and Image Plagiarism
Presenting another investigator's data, radiographic images, tables, or figures as one's own, including images obtained from teaching files, textbooks, or online case repositories.
Citation Plagiarism
Copying a reference list from another paper without consulting the sources, or deliberately omitting citation of the work that a study depends upon.
Excluded From the Similarity Calculation
The reference list and bibliography.
Correctly formatted direct quotations.
Standard equipment and software names, anatomical terminology, and disease nomenclature.
Names of scales, classification systems, reporting guidelines, and ethics committees.
Matches of fewer than [SIX] consecutive words.
The authors' own preprint of the same manuscript, where declared at submission.
Action Taken
Below Threshold, Minor Overlap
The manuscript proceeds to peer review. Authors may be asked to rephrase or add citations during revision.
Above Threshold, No Evidence of Intent
The manuscript is returned to the authors with the report attached. They are given 14 days to revise and resubmit. Review does not begin until the manuscript passes.
Substantial or Deliberate Plagiarism
The manuscript is rejected immediately. The Editor-in-Chief may notify the authors' institution, and the authors may be barred from submitting for a defined period.
Detected After Publication
The case is investigated under the COPE flowcharts. Depending on the finding, a correction, an expression of concern, or a retraction is published, and the original institution is informed.
Image Screening

Because this journal publishes image-based research, figures receive attention alongside text. The editorial office may examine submitted figures for evidence of duplication, splicing, cloning, inappropriate enhancement, or reuse of the same image to represent different subjects. Authors must be able to supply the original unprocessed files on request.

Images reproduced from another publication require written permission from the copyright holder, and the source must be cited in the figure legend. This applies equally to images obtained from open case repositories, teaching collections, and radiology reference websites, none of which are automatically free to republish. Images generated by artificial intelligence must be declared and must never be presented as authentic clinical images; see the Generative AI Policy.

Author Declaration

By submitting to Radiology Research Journal, the corresponding author confirms on behalf of all authors that the manuscript is their original work, that all sources of text, data, and images have been properly cited, that permission has been obtained for any reproduced material, and that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere in whole or in substantial part.

Radiology Research Journal (RRJ) · Plagiarism Screening Policy · Version 1.0, [MONTH YEAR]