Academic Misconduct: Identification & Handling
1 Identification of Papers with Academic Misconduct
Science Technology and Engineering adopts an academic misconduct detection system to automatically screen all manuscripts, with the China Academic Journal Network Publishing Database as the full-text comparison database. The system detects academic misconduct including plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, inappropriate authorship, duplicate submission, etc. The duplication rate shall be lower than 10%.
1.1 Plagiarism
Plagiarism refers to the misappropriation of others’ intellectual property, including verbatim or near-verbatim copying of sentences or paragraphs from others’ works, even if the original literature is cited in references.
(1) Plagiarism of arguments (conclusions, viewpoints).
(2) Plagiarism of evidence and demonstration (analysis of experimental and observational results).
(3) Plagiarism of figures, tables, formulas and data.
(4) Plagiarism of concepts (definitions, principles, formulas, etc.).
(5) Self-plagiarism (or team self-plagiarism).
(6) Severe plagiarism (redundant publication).
1.2 Duplicate Submission
Duplicate submission means two articles share identical theories, core experimental data, figures and tables, or the same core content despite minor differences in wording or narration.
Such manuscripts include papers published in officially issued conference proceedings or journals in other languages. Exceptions include brief reports or preliminary notes published in one journal, followed by full-length papers of further research submitted to another journal. Authors must notify the editorial office in advance if they intend to resubmit related content.
Once the editorial office issues a manuscript receipt, the manuscript is under processing. Authors shall contact and obtain consent from the editorial office before transferring the manuscript to other journals.
If the editorial office suspects duplicate submission, it will collect relevant materials for thorough verification and notify the author, who shall provide explanations before any disciplinary decision is issued.
1.3 Fabrication
Fabrication refers to the creation of fictitious experimental results based on scientific hypotheses and theories without authentic data from actual observations and experiments, including fabricated experimental data, samples and evidence. Under no circumstances shall researchers fabricate research data.
1.4 Falsification
Falsification occurs when researchers arbitrarily alter or discard acquired experimental data to draw conclusions consistent with their expectations, including subjective data filtering and manipulation of raw data.
1.5 Inappropriate Authorship
Excluding individuals who have made substantial contributions to the research from the author list.
(1) Listing individuals without substantial contributions to the research as authors.
(2) Unauthorized addition of other persons’ names to one’s manuscript.
(3) Falsified author information.
(4) Author ranking that fails to reflect actual research contributions.
1.6 Multiple Publications Based on a Single Academic Achievement
This includes splitting one paper (one research achievement) into multiple articles for publication, repeated use of one-off research results, and dividing a single experiment into multiple manuscripts with different narrative perspectives.
2 Disciplinary Measures for Papers Confirmed to Involve Academic Misconduct
The journal will notify authors promptly after confirming academic misconduct with prudent verification. Authors are allowed to provide explanations and statements before disciplinary decisions are finalized.
If the manuscript has not been accepted, the editorial office will terminate the review process immediately, reject the manuscript, and conduct criticism and education on the author.
If the manuscript has been accepted but not formally published, the manuscript will be rejected, its acceptance qualification revoked, and the author will receive criticism, official file record and written warning.
If the paper has been formally published, the journal will issue a retraction notice on its official website and notify cooperating databases to remove the online version and terminate its release. The author shall be ordered to return all remuneration for this paper. The journal reserves the right to claim further compensation if the journal suffers reputational or other losses caused by the misconduct.
For severe academic misconduct cases, the journal will publish a retraction announcement containing the authors’ names, affiliations and retraction statements on its website. The journal will also notify the authors’ institutions and other scientific and technological journals in the relevant field of the incident.
Any first author found to have committed severe plagiarism or duplicate submission shall not have any manuscripts accepted by this journal within two years.
3 Retraction Policy
To safeguard research integrity, authenticity and reproducibility of scientific data, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of authors and readers, published papers will be retracted in cases of data fabrication, redundant publication, plagiarism, violation of research ethics or relevant laws and regulations.
(1) The editorial office may decide on retraction based on factual evidence. In many cases, partial authors or their affiliated institutions may propose retraction, yet the final decision rests with the editorial office.
(2) When solid evidence is obtained, the editorial office will issue a timely retraction to minimize misleading information to readers.
(3) The editorial office will strive to reach an agreement with authors on the wording of retraction statements in principle, but retraction will not be delayed solely due to authors’ objections if sufficient evidence supports retraction.
(4) The retracted paper will be removed promptly from the journal website and all cooperating databases.
