Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Journal Policies

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

 
SFREMS

Overview

 

The Sapientia Filipina: Review of Education and Multidisciplinary Studies (SFREMS) is committed to preserving the highest standards of academic integrity, originality, and ethical scholarly publishing. The journal expects all submitted manuscripts to represent original intellectual work and to comply with internationally recognized principles of responsible research, proper attribution, and ethical publication practices.

To uphold these standards, every manuscript submitted to SFREMS undergoes a plagiarism screening process before entering peer review. The journal does not tolerate plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, or any form of academic misconduct that compromises the integrity of the scholarly record.

 

Similarity Screening

 

All manuscripts submitted to SFREMS are screened using Turnitin or another internationally recognized plagiarism detection software prior to editorial review.

The similarity screening process aims to:

 
Verify the originality of submitted manuscripts;
 
Detect potential plagiarism or unattributed text reuse;
 
Identify duplicate or redundant publication;
 
Encourage proper citation and attribution of sources;
 
Support ethical editorial decision-making;
 
Maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

Similarity reports serve as editorial assessment tools and are interpreted carefully within the context of the manuscript. Editorial decisions are not based solely on an overall similarity percentage, but on the nature, extent, and significance of the identified similarities.

 

Definition of Plagiarism

 

SFREMS defines plagiarism as presenting another person's intellectual work, ideas, words, data, images, or other scholarly materials as one's own without appropriate acknowledgment.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

 
Copying text without proper citation;
 
Presenting another author's ideas without attribution;
 
Improper paraphrasing that closely follows the original source;
 
Copying figures, tables, photographs, illustrations, or other copyrighted materials without permission or acknowledgment;
 
Using research data or findings without appropriate citation;
 
Misappropriation of research instruments, questionnaires, software, or educational materials;
 
Submitting another person's work under different authorship.

The journal considers plagiarism a serious breach of publication ethics.

 

Self-Plagiarism and Redundant Publication

 

SFREMS also regards self-plagiarism or redundant publication as unethical when authors substantially reuse their previously published work without appropriate citation, disclosure, or editorial approval.

Examples include:

 
Republishing substantially similar manuscripts;
 
Reusing large portions of previously published text without citation;
 
Duplicate publication of research findings;
 
Fragmenting a single study into multiple overlapping publications (“salami publication”);
 
Republishing conference papers without substantial revision or disclosure.

Where prior publication exists, authors must clearly disclose it during manuscript submission.

 

Author Responsibilities

 

By submitting a manuscript to SFREMS, authors confirm that:

 
The manuscript represents original scholarly work;
 
The manuscript has not been previously published except where appropriately disclosed;
 
The manuscript is not simultaneously under consideration by another journal;
 
All borrowed ideas, data, figures, tables, images, and other materials have been properly cited;
 
Appropriate permissions have been obtained for copyrighted materials where required;
 
All authors have reviewed and approved the submitted manuscript.

Authors are strongly encouraged to conduct their own originality screening before submission to minimize delays during editorial assessment.

 

Acceptable Similarities

 

The journal recognizes that certain similarities may legitimately occur and do not necessarily constitute plagiarism.

Examples include:

 
Standard methodological descriptions;
 
Common scientific or technical terminology;
 
Properly cited quotations;
 
References and bibliographic entries;
 
Institutional names;
 
Standard reporting language;
 
Publicly available definitions where appropriately cited.

Editorial evaluation focuses on whether similarities represent legitimate scholarly practice or unethical text reuse.

 

Editorial Assessment

 

When similarity is identified, the Editorial Office evaluates:

 
The amount of overlapping text;
 
The location of the overlap;
 
Whether proper citation has been provided;
 
The originality of the scholarly contribution;
 
Whether copyright concerns exist;
 
Whether the overlap could mislead readers regarding originality.

Authors may be asked to:

 
Revise the manuscript;
 
Improve citations;
 
Rewrite overlapping sections;
 
Provide clarification regarding previous publications.

Editorial assessment is conducted on a case-by-case basis.

 

Academic Integrity

 

Beyond plagiarism, SFREMS expects authors to avoid other forms of research misconduct, including:

 
Data fabrication;
 
Data falsification;
 
Citation manipulation;
 
Image manipulation intended to mislead;
 
Fraudulent authorship;
 
Peer review manipulation;
 
Misrepresentation of research findings;
 
Submission of falsified ethical approval documents.

The journal promotes honesty, transparency, and accountability throughout the research and publication process.

 

Actions for Confirmed Plagiarism

 

When plagiarism or unethical text reuse is confirmed, the journal may take one or more of the following actions depending on the seriousness of the violation:

 
Request revision before editorial consideration;
 
Reject the manuscript;
 
Suspend editorial review pending investigation;
 
Reject the manuscript for serious or deliberate plagiarism;
 
Retract a published article;
 
Publish a correction, editorial notice, or expression of concern where appropriate;
 
Notify the authors' affiliated institutions, funding agencies, or relevant authorities in cases involving serious research misconduct.

Repeated or deliberate violations may result in temporary or permanent restrictions on future submissions to SFREMS.

 

Post-Publication Discovery

 

If plagiarism is discovered after publication, the Editorial Office will investigate the matter in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics Policy.

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, the journal may:

 
Publish a correction;
 
Issue an expression of concern;
 
Retract the article;
 
Update the online publication record;
 
Notify relevant institutions where appropriate.

The journal remains committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record.

 

Use of Artificial Intelligence

 

Authors remain fully responsible for ensuring that AI-assisted writing tools do not introduce plagiarized, fabricated, or improperly attributed content into submitted manuscripts.

The use of generative artificial intelligence does not exempt authors from their responsibility to ensure originality, accurate citation, and compliance with the journal's ethical standards.

Additional requirements governing AI-assisted research and writing are described in the journal's Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.

 

Commitment to Academic Integrity

 

The Sapientia Filipina: Review of Education and Multidisciplinary Studies (SFREMS) is dedicated to fostering a culture of academic honesty, originality, responsible citation, and ethical scholarship across all disciplines represented by the journal. Through rigorous similarity screening, careful editorial evaluation, and adherence to internationally recognized publication ethics, SFREMS seeks to ensure that every published article represents a genuine, credible, and valuable contribution to multidisciplinary knowledge and research.

 

Alignment with International Standards

 

This Anti-Plagiarism Policy has been developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles of publication ethics, academic integrity, and responsible scholarly publishing and is aligned with:

COPE

Committee on Publication Ethics

Core Practices

Guidance on plagiarism, publication ethics, research integrity, and handling misconduct.

publicationethics.org →
ICMJE

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work

Recommendations on originality, ethical publication, and responsible authorship.

icmje.org/recommendations →
DOAJ

Directory of Open Access Journals

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

Requirements for publication ethics, originality, editorial transparency, and responsible open-access publishing.

doaj.org/apply/guide →

SFREMS periodically reviews and updates this Anti-Plagiarism Policy to ensure continued alignment with evolving international standards for publication ethics, academic integrity, editorial transparency, and responsible open-access scholarly publishing.

Sapientia Filipina  ·  Review of Education and Multidisciplinary Studies  ·  NIRD