Plagiarism Policy
Dampak screens every submission for plagiarism before peer review, using Turnitin with a 20% overall similarity threshold, and applies graded sanctions to confirmed cases, from a warning to rejection and a submission ban.
1. Introduction
Dampak: Jurnal Teknik Lingkungan Universitas Andalas publishes original research and conceptual work in environmental engineering. The journal does not tolerate plagiarism in any form, because it undermines the originality of the scholarly record and the trust of authors, reviewers and readers.
This policy applies to every manuscript submitted to Dampak, in Indonesian or English, and to every article already published in it. By submitting a manuscript, all authors affirm that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration by another journal. Dampak follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines described in its Publication Ethics statement.
2. What counts as plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting another person's words, ideas, data or figures as one's own, without proper attribution or permission. In Dampak, this includes:
- Copying text, phrases or substantial passages without quotation marks and a citation.
- Paraphrasing another work too closely, or paraphrasing without citing it.
- Using figures, tables, maps, photographs, data or research results from other sources without acknowledgment or permission.
- Presenting another author's ideas, theories, models or interpretations as one's own.
- Translating another author's published text, in either direction between Indonesian and English, and presenting it as original.
- Reusing text, data or figures from a thesis, dissertation, research report or conference paper, by the same or other authors, without citing it and, where required, obtaining permission.
- Self-plagiarism: reusing substantial parts of one's own published work without citation or justification, or submitting essentially the same manuscript to more than one journal at once.
- Presenting text produced by generative AI as one's own writing without disclosure, or using it to rework another author's text. See the AI Policy.
Verbatim material must be set off by quotation marks or indentation and cited. Text beyond fair use (more than two or three sentences) and any reproduced graphic requires permission from the copyright holder, with the source identified. Describing a standard method, such as an SNI or APHA procedure, in standard wording is acceptable if the source is cited.
3. Similarity screening
- When: every manuscript is screened by the editorial office when it is received, before peer review. Manuscripts that pass revision are screened again before final acceptance, because revisions can add new text.
- Tool: Turnitin is used to generate a similarity report.
- Threshold: a manuscript with an overall similarity index above 20% receives further scrutiny by the editors. The index is a screening signal, not a verdict.
- Exclusions: the reference list and correctly quoted, cited text are excluded from the calculation.
- Human judgment: editors read the report itself, not only the percentage. They distinguish plagiarism from legitimate overlap, such as common technical phrases, standard methods and regulatory terms, or properly cited material. A low index does not clear a manuscript if a single source accounts for a large block of copied text.
A manuscript above the threshold is either returned to the authors to rewrite and cite properly, or treated as a plagiarism case under Sections 4 and 5, depending on what the report shows.
4. Levels of plagiarism and actions
The Editor-in-Chief decides the level, in consultation with the editorial board for intermediate and severe cases. All authors share responsibility for the content they submit, so any sanction applies to all authors of the manuscript.
| Level | What was found | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Minor | A short passage is copied, with no significant data or idea taken from the other work. Overlap confined to the methods section of the authors' own earlier work also counts as minor. | Warning to the authors. They must rewrite the text and cite the source before review continues. |
| Intermediate | A significant portion is copied without citation. Overlap with the authors' own work of more than one tenth but less than one half of the manuscript also counts. | Manuscript rejected. The authors may not submit to Dampak for one year. |
| Severe | A significant portion is copied and includes another work's original results or ideas. Identical or near-identical figures and text for one half or more of the paper, or the same manuscript submitted to another journal at the same time, also count. | Manuscript rejected. The authors may not submit to Dampak for five years. If another journal is involved, its editor is informed. |
A second confirmed case by the same author or authors is referred to the full editorial board, which may bar them from submitting permanently. The authors' institutions may be informed in extensive or severe cases.
5. Handling suspected cases
- Screen. The editorial office generates the Turnitin report and passes it to the Editor-in-Chief.
- Evaluate. The editors review the matched passages against their sources and decide whether the overlap is legitimate, careless citation, or plagiarism.
- Notify. If plagiarism is suspected, the corresponding author is told which passages and sources are in question.
- Respond. The authors are given 14 days to explain or correct. No decision is made before they have had that chance.
- Decide. The Editor-in-Chief assigns a level under Section 4 and informs the corresponding author in writing, with the reasons.
- Record. The case, the decision and any submission ban are logged by the editorial office.
A reviewer or reader who raises a concern is asked to give the source and the passages concerned. Complaints and appeals follow the journal's procedure for allegations of misconduct.
6. Published articles
If plagiarism is reported in a published article, the journal investigates it using the same steps as in Section 5. The outcome depends on the findings:
- Correction, when the overlap is limited and the article's findings stand. A notice is published and linked to the article.
- Expression of concern, when the investigation is still open or the evidence is not yet conclusive.
- Retraction, when plagiarism is confirmed. The article stays online and is marked as retracted, with a public notice stating the reason. The authors' institutions are notified.
Dampak also considers retraction when findings are unreliable because of misconduct or serious error, when the work was previously published elsewhere without cross-reference, permission or justification, or when it reports unethical research. All notices follow COPE's retraction guidelines. See also the Post-Publication policy.
7. Responsibilities
Authors ensure the originality of the manuscript, cite every source, obtain permission for copyrighted material, and disclose earlier versions of the work, such as a thesis, report or conference paper, in the cover letter and the manuscript. All authors sign the copyright transfer form and share responsibility for the content.
Reviewers tell the editor if they notice substantial similarity to other published work, and keep manuscripts confidential.
Editors apply this policy consistently and without regard to the authors' identity or institution, keep the Turnitin reports, and avoid using unpublished material from a submission in their own work.
8. Records, transparency and review
The editorial office keeps the similarity report for each manuscript, the editors' evaluation, correspondence with the authors, and a list of authors under a submission ban. It checks every new submission against that list and informs the Editor-in-Chief of any match.
This policy is published on the journal website beside the submission instructions, and the confirmation email sent on receipt of a manuscript refers authors to it. Authors with questions about a similarity check can write to the editorial office through the Contact page. The editorial board reviews the policy at least once a year and revises it as publication ethics standards change.
