Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism and Similarity Screening Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Law and Policy is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, originality, and responsible scholarly publishing. Plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated or improperly attributed material, and other forms of unethical appropriation of scholarly work are not acceptable.

All manuscripts submitted to the journal may be subject to plagiarism and similarity screening using appropriate similarity-detection software or other reliable tools. The purpose of screening is to identify potentially unattributed or improperly reproduced material and to assist the editorial team in evaluating the originality and integrity of a submission.

A similarity report is an editorial screening tool and does not, by itself, establish that plagiarism has occurred. The editorial team will consider the nature, location, extent, and sources of identified similarities, including legitimate quotations, references, commonly used academic terminology, legal expressions, statutory language, judicial quotations, methodological descriptions, definitions, and other material that may appropriately appear in scholarly writing.

What Constitutes Plagiarism?

Plagiarism occurs when an author presents another person's words, ideas, arguments, data, findings, or other intellectual contributions as their own without appropriate acknowledgment.

Plagiarism may include, but is not limited to:

• Direct copying of text without quotation and proper citation;

• Substantial unattributed paraphrasing of another person's work;

• Presenting another person's ideas, arguments, data, findings, or legal analysis without appropriate attribution;

• Reproducing tables, figures, images, datasets, or other copyrighted material without appropriate acknowledgment or permission where required;

• Using another person's research, analysis, or written work and submitting it under one's own authorship; and

• Other forms of appropriation that misrepresent the source or authorship of scholarly material.

Authors must also ensure that quotations from legislation, judicial decisions, treaties, regulations, law reports, and other legal sources are accurately reproduced and appropriately cited. The existence of standard legal language or properly attributed quotations does not, by itself, constitute plagiarism.

Duplicate Publication and Self-Plagiarism

Authors must not submit substantially the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal or publish substantially overlapping work without appropriate disclosure and justification.

Self-plagiarism may occur where authors reuse substantial portions of their previously published work without appropriate citation, disclosure, or explanation. This may include duplicate publication, substantial text recycling, and inappropriate fragmentation of research into multiple publications, commonly known as “salami slicing.”

Limited reuse of an author's own previously published material may be acceptable in appropriate circumstances where it is properly disclosed, appropriately cited, and does not constitute redundant publication. The editorial team will assess such cases individually.

Authors must disclose any substantial overlap between a submitted manuscript and their own previously published work, manuscripts under consideration elsewhere, or related publications where such disclosure is relevant to the editorial assessment.

Editorial Screening Procedure

Manuscripts may undergo similarity screening at the initial editorial stage and, where appropriate, at later stages of the editorial and publication process.

Where potentially problematic similarity is identified, the editorial team may:

1. Review the similarity report and identify the sources and nature of the overlapping material.

2. Determine whether the similarity represents legitimate citation, quotation, standard legal terminology, statutory language, common expressions, or potentially inappropriate copying.

3. Request clarification, revision, additional citations, or supporting information from the author where appropriate.

4. Reject the manuscript where substantial plagiarism or other serious ethical concerns are established.

5. Proceed with peer review where the identified similarity is considered legitimate or has been adequately addressed.

The journal does not use a single numerical similarity percentage as an automatic basis for accepting or rejecting a manuscript. Each case is assessed in context, taking into account the sources of similarity, the nature of the material, the quality of attribution, and relevant scholarly and publication-ethics principles.

Suspected Plagiarism in a Published Article

Where plagiarism or substantial unattributed material is suspected in an article that has already been published, the Pakistan Journal of Law and Policy will investigate the matter in accordance with its applicable Complaints and Misconduct Policy, relevant publication-ethics standards, and applicable guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The process may include:

1. Reviewing and documenting the allegation and supporting evidence;

2. Comparing the published article with the alleged original source or sources;

3. Seeking clarification or a response from the corresponding author and, where appropriate, other authors;

4. Consulting members of the editorial team or independent experts where necessary;

5. Contacting the relevant institution, publisher, or original author where the circumstances warrant such action; and

6. Determining an appropriate response based on the evidence,