Plagiarism Policy

The Libyan Open University Journal of Applied Sciences (LOUJAS) has a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism. To ensure academic integrity, all submitted manuscripts are checked for originality using the Turnitin plagiarism detection software.

1. What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism is defined as the act of presenting someone else's work or ideas as your own without proper acknowledgment. This includes:

  • Direct Plagiarism: Copying and pasting text directly from another source without using quotation marks and proper citation.

  • Paraphrasing Plagiarism: Rephrasing someone else's ideas or sentences without giving credit to the original author.

  • Self-Plagiarism: Reusing a significant portion of your own previously published work (text, data, or figures) without proper citation.

2. Plagiarism Detection and Threshold

Every manuscript submitted to LOUJAS undergoes an originality check with Turnitin. The journal's plagiarism threshold is set at a similarity score of 25%.

  • Similarity Score ≤ 25%: The manuscript is considered for publication and proceeds to the peer review process. The editorial team will still review the similarity report to ensure that any flagged text is properly cited and does not represent a significant issue.

  • Similarity Score > 25%: The manuscript will be immediately rejected without a peer review. Authors of rejected manuscripts will be informed of the high similarity index and the decision. In cases where the high score is due to improperly formatted references or a common methodology section, authors may be given an opportunity to resubmit a corrected version. However, a significant similarity index due to copied content is a final rejection.

3. Consequences

Any confirmed case of plagiarism will result in the immediate rejection of the manuscript. If plagiarism is discovered after an article has been published, the journal will conduct a thorough investigation. Confirmed cases will lead to the retraction of the article, and an official notice will be published on the journal's website.