Plagiarism is the unethical act of copying someone else’s prior ideas, processes, results or words without explicit acknowledgement of the original author and source. Self-plagiarism occurs when an author utilizes large part of his/her own previously published work without using appropriate references. This can range from getting the same manuscript published in multiple journals to modifying a previously published manuscript with some new data.

Rast Musicology Journal (RMJ) take very serious importance with the editorial board that he will act meticulously about plagiarism.
The journal is strictly against any unethical act of copying or plagiarism in any form. Plagiarism is said to have occurred when large portions of a manuscript have been copied from existing previously published resources. All manuscripts submitted for publication to RMJ are cross-checked for plagiarism using Turnitin/ iThenticate software.

RMJ meticulously requests and checks plagiarism reports from authors for their article submissions. Papers found to be plagiarized during initial stages of review are out-rightly rejected and not considered for publication in the journal. In case a manuscript is found to be plagiarized after publication, the Editor-in-Chief will conduct preliminary investigation, may be with the help of a suitable committee constituted for the purpose. If the manuscript is found to be plagiarized beyond the acceptable limits, the journal will contact the author’s Affiliation and Funding Agency, if any. A determination of misconduct will lead RMJ to run a statement bidirectionally linked online to and from the original paper, to note the plagiarism and provide a reference to the plagiarized material. The paper containing the plagiarism will also be marked on each pages. this situation is conveyed to the relevant unit in a report.

Types of Plagiarism
The following types of plagiarism are considered by RMJ:
Full Plagiarism: Previously published content without any changes to the text, idea and grammar is considered as full plagiarism. It involves presenting exact text from a source as one’s own.
Partial Plagiarism: If content is a mixture from multiple different sources, where the author has extensively rephrased text, then it is known as partial plagiarism.
Self-Plagiarism: When an author reuses complete or portions of their pre-published research, then it is known as self-plagiarism. Complete self-plagiarism is a case when an author republishes their own previously published work in a new journal.

Plagiarism Action Plan and Precautions of RMJ
RMJ respects intellectual property and aims at protecting and promoting original work of its authors. Manuscripts containing plagiarized material are against the standards of quality, research and innovation. Hence, all authors submitting articles to RMJ are expected to abide ethical standards and abstain from plagiarism, in any form. In case, an author is found to be suspected of plagiarism in a submitted or published manuscript then, RMJ shall contact the author (s) to submit his / her (their) explanation within two weeks, which may be forwarded to the Plagiarism Finding Unit (PFU) constituted for the purpose, for further course of action.

If RMJ does not receive any response from the author within the stipulated time period, then the director of authors’ affiliations to which the author is affiliated shall be contacted to take strict action against the concerned author.

RMJ shall take serious action against published manuscripts found to contain plagiarism and shall completely remove them from RMJ journal website (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/rastmd) and other third party websites where the paper is listed and indexed. The moment, any article published in RMJ database is reported to be plagiarized, RMJ will constitute a Plagiarism Finding Unit (PFU) to investigate the same. Upon having established that the manuscript is plagiarized from some previously published work, RMJ shall support the original author and manuscript irrespective of the publisher and may take any or all of the following immediate actions or follow the additional course of actions as recommended by the committee:

RMJ editorial office shall immediately contact the Head of the Affiliations to which the author(s) is (are) affiliated to take strict action against the concerned author.

RMJ shall remove the PDF copy of the published manuscript from the website (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/rastmd) and disable all links to full text article. The term Plagiarized Manuscript shall be appended to the published manuscript title.

RMJ shall disable the author account with the journal and reject all future submissions from the author for a period of 3 years or even ban the authors permanently.

RMJ may also display the list of such authors along with their full contact details on the RMJ website (https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/rastmd). knowledge and experience of other academic journals to combat plagiarism.

Updated 15th January 2023