Plagiarism Policy

The Synergy: Journal of Outcome-Based Community Engagement strictly enforces a zero-tolerance policy against plagiarism, data fabrication, and all forms of academic misconduct. We believe that original, outcome-based community service reporting is the foundation of scientific and social integrity.

Authors submitting manuscripts to this journal must ensure that their work is entirely original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere. To protect the credibility of the journal and the academic community, we have established the following strict screening procedures:

1. The Screening Mechanism

Before any manuscript is forwarded to the Double-Blind Peer Review phase, the Editorial Board conducts a mandatory originality check during the initial Desk Evaluation. The journal utilizes Turnitin, a premier similarity detection software, to cross-reference submissions against millions of published articles, web pages, and academic databases.

2. Acceptable Similarity Threshold

To be considered for publication, manuscripts must strictly adhere to the following tolerance limits:

  • The maximum allowable overall similarity index is 20%.
  • Similarity from any single specific source must not exceed 5%.
  • Exclusions applied during the Turnitin check: Bibliography/References, properly formatted block quotes, and author affiliations/institutional names.

Sanctions & Post-Publication Retraction

  • Pre-Review Rejection: Manuscripts exceeding the 20% similarity threshold will be immediately returned to the authors. If the plagiarism is deemed intentional or severe (e.g., copying entire paragraphs without citation), the manuscript will face a final Desk Rejection.
  • Self-Plagiarism: Salami-slicing (publishing parts of the same study in multiple journals) or verbatim copying of the author's previously published works without proper citation is also considered a violation and will result in rejection.
  • Post-Publication Discovery: If plagiarism, data manipulation, or duplicate publication is discovered after an article is published, the Editorial Board reserves the right to formally retract the paper. A retraction notice will be published, and the authors' affiliated institutions may be informed, in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.