Plagiarism and AI Content Policy

Plagiarism and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Content Policy

The World Journal of Future Technologies in Computer Science and Engineering (WJFTCSE) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity, scientific honesty, research transparency, and ethical publishing. Originality is a fundamental requirement for publication, and every manuscript submitted to the journal must represent authentic scholarly work conducted by the listed authors.

Any form of plagiarism, research misconduct, data manipulation, duplicate publication, unethical authorship practices, or inappropriate use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated content is considered a serious violation of publication ethics and may result in rejection, retraction, or other editorial action.

1. Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's intellectual work, research, ideas, data, software, algorithms, engineering designs, figures, images, tables, graphs, computer code, or written content as one's own without proper acknowledgment or permission.

WJFTCSE recognizes the following forms of plagiarism:

  • Direct Plagiarism: Copying sentences, paragraphs, tables, figures, software code, algorithms, mathematical expressions, or research findings from another source without proper quotation or citation.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Republishing or substantially reusing one's own previously published material without proper citation, disclosure, or editorial permission.
  • Mosaic (Patchwork) Plagiarism: Combining phrases, sentences, ideas, or structures from multiple published sources while making only superficial modifications.
  • Paraphrasing Plagiarism: Rewriting another author's work with minor wording changes while retaining the original ideas or structure without proper attribution.
  • Data Plagiarism: Unauthorized use of experimental data, datasets, simulations, engineering measurements, software outputs, survey results, or computational findings generated by another researcher.
  • Image and Figure Plagiarism: Unauthorized reproduction or modification of figures, photographs, engineering diagrams, flowcharts, screenshots, architectural designs, illustrations, or graphical content.
  • Code Plagiarism: Copying source code, algorithms, scripts, software modules, AI models, machine learning implementations, or computational frameworks without proper acknowledgment.
  • Idea Plagiarism: Presenting another researcher's original concepts, theories, methodologies, architectures, engineering models, or innovations without appropriate credit.
  • Citation Manipulation: Adding unnecessary references solely to increase citation counts or intentionally omitting significant prior work.
  • Duplicate or Redundant Publication: Simultaneously submitting or publishing substantially similar research in multiple journals without full disclosure and editorial approval.

2. Similarity Assessment

All submitted manuscripts undergo originality screening using internationally recognized plagiarism detection software such as iThenticate, Turnitin, or equivalent similarity detection systems.

The Editorial Office evaluates both the similarity percentage and the context of overlapping material.

General editorial guidance includes:

  • Up to 10% similarity: Normally acceptable, excluding references, equations, standard terminology, methodology descriptions, and properly quoted material.
  • 10–20% similarity: May require clarification, revision, or additional citations before review.
  • Above 20% similarity: Subject to detailed editorial investigation.
  • Above 25% similarity: May result in immediate rejection depending upon the nature of overlap.

Similarity percentages alone do not determine editorial decisions. The Editorial Board evaluates the quality, location, intent, and significance of overlapping content.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Generated Content Policy

WJFTCSE acknowledges that Artificial Intelligence technologies continue to evolve and may assist researchers in limited aspects of manuscript preparation. However, AI systems cannot satisfy the responsibilities of authorship and cannot assume responsibility for scientific accuracy, ethical compliance, originality, or intellectual accountability.

Accordingly, the journal adopts the following policy:

  • Artificial Intelligence tools shall not be listed as authors or co-authors.
  • Authors remain fully responsible for every sentence, figure, dataset, software implementation, algorithm, analysis, interpretation, citation, and conclusion contained within the manuscript.
  • AI-generated scientific text that substitutes for original scholarly writing is not acceptable.
  • Authors must independently verify all information generated with AI-assisted tools before inclusion in the manuscript.
  • AI must not be used to fabricate research data, generate experimental results, create false citations, manipulate statistical analyses, invent references, produce fabricated images, or generate misleading scientific conclusions.
  • Undisclosed submission of substantially AI-generated manuscripts may constitute publication misconduct.

Limited use of AI-assisted tools for language improvement, grammar correction, spelling enhancement, formatting assistance, programming support, or image enhancement may be acceptable where permitted by journal policy, provided that authors remain fully accountable for the final published work.

4. Author Responsibilities

Authors submitting manuscripts to WJFTCSE certify that:

  • The submitted work is original.
  • All sources have been appropriately cited.
  • Necessary copyright permissions have been obtained.
  • The manuscript is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere.
  • The work has not been previously published except where fully disclosed.
  • No fabricated data, manipulated images, falsified results, or misleading AI-generated content has been included.
  • All listed authors have made genuine scholarly contributions.

5. Editorial Actions in Cases of Plagiarism

If plagiarism or research misconduct is suspected, the Editorial Office may undertake one or more of the following actions:

  • Request clarification from the authors.
  • Require manuscript revision.
  • Suspend peer review pending investigation.
  • Reject the manuscript.
  • Notify the corresponding author.
  • Request an institutional explanation where appropriate.
  • Report serious misconduct to relevant authorities where legally required.

6. Post-Publication Misconduct

If plagiarism, fabricated data, falsified information, image manipulation, duplicate publication, AI-generated fraudulent content, or other serious ethical violations are discovered after publication, WJFTCSE reserves the right to:

  • Issue a correction.
  • Publish an editorial notice.
  • Issue an Expression of Concern.
  • Retract the published article.
  • Remove access where legally necessary while preserving the scholarly record.
  • Notify indexing services where appropriate.

7. Appeals

Authors may appeal editorial decisions relating to plagiarism or research misconduct by submitting a detailed written explanation together with supporting evidence. Appeals are reviewed independently by the Editorial Office, and additional expert opinion may be sought before a final decision is made.

8. Author Education

WJFTCSE encourages responsible research conduct by providing guidance on ethical writing, citation practices, research transparency, authorship responsibilities, copyright compliance, responsible AI usage, and publication ethics. Authors are encouraged to carefully review the journal's ethical policies before submission.

9. Continuous Ethical Monitoring

Maintaining publication integrity does not end after publication. WJFTCSE reserves the right to investigate credible allegations of plagiarism, AI misuse, research misconduct, duplicate publication, data manipulation, or ethical violations at any time after publication. Where necessary, appropriate editorial action may be taken to preserve the integrity of the scholarly record.