Originality is a precondition for publication in Oxton Science Journal. Plagiarism in any form is a serious breach of publication ethics and is treated under COPE guidance.

What Constitutes Plagiarism

• Verbatim plagiarism: reproducing text from other sources without quotation and attribution;
• Mosaic/paraphrase plagiarism: rephrasing others' ideas or text without proper citation;
• Self-plagiarism: reusing substantial portions of one's own published work without disclosure and citation;
• Data and image plagiarism: presenting others' data, figures or tables as original;
• Duplicate/redundant publication: publishing the same study, or substantially overlapping studies, more than once.

Screening

Submissions may be screened for textual overlap using similarity-detection tools. A high similarity index is assessed editorially — quotations, common methodological descriptions and reference lists are considered in context. Authors should always quote and cite sources, and obtain permission to reproduce copyrighted material.

Consequences

Plagiarism identified before publication leads to rejection or a request for substantial correction. Plagiarism identified after publication leads to correction or retraction, with a public notice, and may be reported to the authors' institutions. Repeated or severe misconduct may result in a publishing ban.