Plagiarism Policy

Stardom Scientific Journal of Economy and Management Studies takes plagiarism and related misconduct extremely seriously. All manuscripts are screened for similarity to existing published work and AI-generated text.

Definitions

Plagiarism — the use of another's words, ideas, data, figures, or code without proper attribution.
Self-plagiarism — reusing substantial portions of one's own previously published work without disclosure and proper citation.
Duplicate publication — submitting the same manuscript (in whole or in substantial part) to more than one journal simultaneously or sequentially without disclosure.
Data fabrication / falsification — inventing or manipulating research data.
Image manipulation — altering images in misleading ways.
Improper attribution of authorship.

Similarity Screening

Every manuscript is screened with Turnitin (and its CrossCheck service).

Similarity index limit: ≤ 20% of the total text, including any AI-assisted content.
AI index limit: ≤ 5%.
Submissions exceeding these limits are returned to the authors for revision before peer review.

A high similarity score does not automatically indicate plagiarism — it may reflect numerous correctly-cited matches. The editor evaluates the report in context: source distribution, location of matches (methods sections often share boilerplate language), and the cited/uncited ratio.

Consequences

If plagiarism or related misconduct is established during review:

Rejection of the manuscript.
Notification of the author's institution where appropriate.
A publication ban of up to 3 years for repeat or severe offences.

If discovered after publication:

Correction for minor issues; retraction for substantive misconduct.
Notification of indexing services and the author's institution.

Authors' Responsibilities

Quote and cite all sources accurately.
Obtain permission for reuse of figures or extended passages.
Disclose any prior conference proceedings, preprints, or thesis chapters from which the manuscript derives.
Disclose any use of generative AI tools, even within the 5% AI limit, in the methods or acknowledgments section.

Reporting Concerns

If you suspect plagiarism in a submitted or published manuscript, contact editor@stardomjournal.org with the manuscript identifier and supporting evidence. The journal investigates following COPE flowcharts.