PLAGIARISM POLICY

Bonafide: Journal of Theology and Christian Religious Education

Core Principle

Bonafide: Journal of Theology and Christian Religious Education is fully committed to upholding the highest standards of academic integrity and ethics. We have a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of plagiarism, including data fabrication, falsification, and the appropriation of others' ideas or writings without proper attribution. Every manuscript submitted to our journal must be the author's original work, must not have been previously published elsewhere, and must not be under consideration by any other publication.

Definition of Plagiarism

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the following acts:

  1. Direct Plagiarism: Quoting another's work word-for-word without using quotation marks and without citing the source.

  2. Improper Paraphrasing: Altering a few words from someone else's sentence or paragraph but retaining the original sentence structure without providing adequate citation.

  3. Mosaic Plagiarism (Patchwork Plagiarism): Weaving together phrases, sentences, or ideas from various sources into a single piece of writing without providing clear attribution for each source.

  4. Self-Plagiarism: Reusing significant portions or the entirety of one's own previously published work without acknowledging the prior publication or informing the editors, reviewers, and readers.

  5. Plagiarism of Ideas: Presenting someone else's original idea, theory, or concept as one's own without giving credit to the source.

Plagiarism Detection Procedure Using Turnitin

To ensure the originality of every manuscript, the Editorial Board of Bonafide will conduct a systematic plagiarism screening process using Turnitin software.

The Process:

  1. Initial Screening: Immediately upon receiving a manuscript via the OJS system, the editor will conduct an initial screening. The manuscript will be uploaded to the Turnitin system to analyze its similarity index against a global database of publications, including scholarly journals, books, websites, and other archives.

  2. Analysis of the Turnitin Report:

    • The Turnitin report will be analyzed qualitatively by the editor. We do not rely solely on the similarity index percentage.

    • The editor will carefully examine the highlighted sections of the text to distinguish between correctly cited quotations, common and unavoidable phrases, and actual instances of plagiarism.

    • Direct quotations that are properly enclosed in quotation marks and cited, as well as the bibliography/reference list, will be excluded from the plagiarism analysis.

  3. Similarity Thresholds:

    • Manuscripts with a similarity index below 20% will generally be considered eligible to proceed to the peer review process.

    • Manuscripts with a similarity index between 20% and 30% will be returned to the author for revision. The author will be required to rephrase the detected sentences and ensure all sources are properly cited.

    • Manuscripts with a similarity index above 30% will be immediately rejected (desk rejection) by the editorial board.

Sanctions and Consequences

If plagiarism is detected in a manuscript, either before or after publication, Bonafide will take firm action in accordance with the guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

  • Before Publication: A manuscript found to contain plagiarism will be immediately rejected. The corresponding author will be notified of the reason for the rejection.

  • After Publication: If an article that has already been published is found to contain plagiarism, the following actions will be taken:

    1. The article will be retracted from the journal's website. A notice of retraction explaining the reason will be published.

    2. The author's affiliated institution will be informed of the ethical violation.

    3. The author(s) will be blacklisted and prohibited from submitting any future manuscripts to Bonafide.

Author's Responsibility

Authors are fully responsible for ensuring that the work they submit is original and free from plagiarism. By submitting a manuscript to Bonafide, authors are deemed to have agreed to this plagiarism policy in its entirety.