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Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism Policy

Frontiers in Social Thoughts and Humanity (FSTH)

eISSN: 2978-3755 | International Peer-Reviewed Journal | Open Access

1. Introduction & Overview

Frontiers in Social Thoughts and Humanity (FSTH) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, originality, and ethical scholarly publishing. The journal expects all submitted manuscripts to represent the authors' own original work and to appropriately acknowledge the intellectual contributions of others through accurate citation and referencing across all sociology, philosophy, anthropology, history, political science, literature, cultural studies, and interdisciplinary humanities domains.

The journal follows internationally recognized principles of publication ethics and research integrity, including the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and Scopus selection criteria. Plagiarism, in any form, is considered a severe violation of scholarly ethics and will result in immediate editorial action before or after publication, irrespective of Article Processing Charge (APC) considerations.

2. Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of another person’s ideas, words, qualitative field data, primary sources, figures, tables, images, or intellectual work as one’s own without appropriate acknowledgment, permission, or citation. FSTH considers both intentional and unintentional plagiarism to be completely unacceptable.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

  • Direct Copying: Copying text verbatim from published or unpublished sources without proper attribution or quotation marks.

  • Substantial Paraphrasing: Paraphrasing another author's social concepts, theoretical frameworks, historical analyses, or qualitative methodologies without clear, appropriate citation.

  • Qualitative & Archival Data Plagiarism: Utilizing interview transcripts, field notes, archival records, historical maps, survey datasets, or analytical frameworks without authorization or explicit source attribution.

  • Visual & Conceptual Plagiarism: Reusing conceptual diagrams, sociological flowcharts, demographic maps, qualitative tables, or analytical models without authorization or proper source credit.

  • Translation Plagiarism: Translating published literature from another language and presenting it as original humanistic research without proper citation.

  • Uncredited Text Recycling: Reusing substantial portions of previously published text, survey protocols, or historical narratives without full disclosure.

3. Originality Requirement

By submitting a manuscript to FSTH, authors confirm that their submission complies with the journal's strict originality requirements and ethical standards:

  • The manuscript represents original, unpublished scholarly work in social science and humanities disciplines.

  • The manuscript has not been published previously in whole or in part (except as an academic thesis, dissertation, conference abstract, or preliminary preprint, which must be formally declared upon submission).

  • The manuscript is not under simultaneous evaluation or consideration by any other journal, edited book, or conference platform.

  • All external data sources, secondary archives, interview materials, and theoretical social models have been accurately cited in standard academic reference format (e.g., APA/Chicago/MLA style).

  • Written copyright permissions have been obtained for any third-party materials, tables, historical photographs, maps, or survey instruments.

  • All listed authors have reviewed, contributed to, and approved the final submitted version.

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4. Similarity Screening

All submitted manuscripts undergo mandatory automated similarity screening using advanced plagiarism detection software (e.g., Turnitin / iThenticate) during initial technical screening prior to peer review.

  • Threshold Guidelines: FSTH adheres to an overall similarity index threshold of less than 15%, with no single source exceeding 3–5%, excluding references, standard academic terminology, historical citations, and direct method descriptions.

  • Contextual Editorial Evaluation: Editorial decisions are based on the nature, context, source, and severity of any detected similarity rather than relying strictly on a single numerical score.

  • Legitimate Similarities: Common sociological definitions, standard historical terminology, formal institutional titles, and properly quoted text with citations are evaluated contextually by the handling editor.

5. Editorial Assessment of Suspected Plagiarism

If potential plagiarism or originality issues are identified during initial screening, peer review, or production, the Editorial Office will conduct an investigation in accordance with COPE flowcharts.

Depending on the severity of the issue, the Editorial Office may:

  • Request formal clarification or a point-by-point explanation from the corresponding author.

  • Request academic revisions and proper attribution of affected sections.

  • Request raw qualitative field notes, survey datasets, interview transcripts, or archival source files for verification.

  • Reject the manuscript outright prior to peer review if substantial plagiarism, uncredited text recycling, or translation plagiarism is detected.

  • Issue a formal warning or notify the authors' affiliated institutions/funding bodies in cases of severe academic misconduct.

6. Plagiarism Detected After Publication

If plagiarism, data fabrication, or major originality violations are identified after an article has been published, FSTH will conduct an objective and confidential investigation following COPE protocols.

Depending on the investigation outcome, the journal may:

  • Publish a Correction / Corrigendum if minor attribution errors occurred without unethical intent.

  • Issue an Editorial Expression of Concern while a formal institutional investigation is ongoing.

  • Formally Retract the published article in cases of confirmed serious plagiarism, duplicate submission, or uncredited text recycling.

  • Formally notify the authors' affiliated institution(s), research councils, or academic bodies.

7. Self-Plagiarism & Redundant Publication

Authors must avoid excessive reuse of their own previously published work without explicit disclosure, citation, or editorial authorization.

Unacceptable practices include:

  • Duplicate Submission: Submitting substantially identical manuscripts to multiple journals concurrently.

  • Redundant / Duplicate Publication: Publishing identical research findings, qualitative analysis, or datasets across multiple outlets without transparency.

  • Text Recycling: Reusing large passages of verbatim text from the authors' previous publications without attribution.

  • Salami Slicing: Fragmenting a single comprehensive field study or historical research project into multiple overlapping, minimal publishable units without scientific justification.

8. AI-Assisted Writing & Originality

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) for language polishing, grammar improvement, structural editing, or translation assistance is permitted, provided it does not compromise research integrity.

  • Authorship Restrictions: AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors under any circumstances.

  • Author Responsibility: Authors remain 100% accountable for the originality, factual accuracy, theoretical rigor, and integrity of all content produced or refined using AI tools.

  • AI-Generated Plagiarism: Content produced by AI that replicates existing literature without proper citation, generates hallucinated citations, or produces fabricated qualitative quotes will be treated as plagiarism and ethical misconduct.

9. Image and Data Integrity

Authors must ensure that all figures, maps, qualitative diagrams, tables, graphs, and empirical datasets accurately reflect the study's original findings.

Inappropriate manipulation of visual data (e.g., altered historical documents, fabricated field photographs, or selective cropping in qualitative figures), statistical falsification, survey data fabrication, or misleading analytical representations constitute grave scholarly misconduct and will lead to immediate manuscript rejection or formal post-publication retraction.

10. Article Processing Charge (APC) Independence

FSTH maintains a strict separation between editorial integrity and publication fees:

  • No Fee Dependency: Editorial evaluations, similarity checks, and plagiarism investigations are conducted completely independently of Article Processing Charge (APC) status.

  • Non-Refundable Misconduct Policy: In cases where plagiarism or academic dishonesty is identified post-acceptance, APC payment does not protect an article from retraction, nor does it guarantee publication. Acceptance or immunity from ethics enforcement cannot be purchased under any circumstances.

11. Authors' Responsibilities

  • Ensure absolute originality, authenticity, and academic rigor in the manuscript.

  • Accurately credit all secondary data, archival sources, prior studies, literature, and social theories.

  • Secure written permission for any copyrighted third-party tables, maps, historical images, or survey tools.

  • Cooperate fully with editorial inquiries regarding data validation, raw interview transcript checks, archival source verification, or similarity reports.

  • Immediately notify the Editorial Office if a significant error or oversight is discovered post-submission or post-publication.

12. Commitment to Research Integrity

FSTH is dedicated to fostering academic honesty, open transparency, and scholarly trust. The journal treats all allegations of plagiarism, text recycling, data fabrication, and research misconduct with utmost seriousness, conducting evidence-based, impartial, and confidential investigations to safeguard the scientific and humanistic record.

13. Contact Information

For questions regarding this Plagiarism Policy, similarity screening reports, or research integrity standards, please contact the Editorial Office: