Plagiarism Policy

ETERNAL: English Teaching Journal applies a zero-tolerance policy toward plagiarism. Manuscripts must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere.

1. Similarity check

• Every submitted manuscript is checked with Turnitin during initial screening, and again before publication after revision.
• The maximum acceptable overall similarity index is 20% (excluding references and quotations), and no more than 3% from any single source.
• The similarity report is interpreted by the editor; a low percentage does not exclude plagiarism if copying is evident, and properly quoted and cited material is not penalised.

2. Forms of plagiarism

• Copying text, data, figures, or ideas from another source without proper citation;
• Paraphrasing another work so closely that it is substantially the same, without citation;
• Self-plagiarism / duplicate publication: reusing substantial parts of one's own published work without citation, or submitting the same study to more than one journal;
• Presenting AI-generated text as one's own original work without disclosure (see Generative AI Policy).

3. Actions when plagiarism is detected

Stage / Extent	Action
Before review: similarity > 20% or evident copying	Manuscript is returned to the author for revision, or rejected if the copying is substantial.
During review / after revision	Review is suspended; the author must explain and revise. Repeated or serious cases lead to rejection.
After publication	Handled according to COPE flowcharts; may result in a correction or retraction, and the author's institution may be informed.
Serious or repeated misconduct	Authors may be barred from submitting to ETERNAL for a defined period (see Allegation of Research Misconduct).