Plagiarism Policy
TERRA ORTHOPAEDICA publishes only original materials that have not been previously published and are not under consideration by another journal.
The Editorial Office is committed to the principles of academic integrity, publication ethics, and responsible scholarly publishing. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication or falsification of data, and improper use of text, images, tables, ideas, or results of other authors without proper attribution are unacceptable.
Plagiarism Screening
All manuscripts submitted to TERRA ORTHOPAEDICA may be screened for textual similarity and improper borrowing before peer review, during peer review, after revision, or at any stage of the editorial process.
Screening is performed using available plagiarism-detection tools as well as editorial and expert assessment. The final decision regarding plagiarism is based not only on the percentage of textual similarity but also on the nature of the overlap, the presence of proper citations, quotation practices, methodological descriptions, references, and other characteristics of the manuscript.
Plagiarism Before Publication
If signs of plagiarism or improper textual borrowing are detected before publication, the Editorial Office considers each case individually.
If the amount of improper borrowing is minor and can be corrected, the manuscript may be returned to the authors for revision with a request to rewrite the text, provide proper citations, and correct the identified issues.
If the manuscript contains extensive plagiarism, appropriation of ideas or results of other authors, falsification of sources, duplicate publication, or other serious violations of academic integrity, the manuscript is rejected without further editorial consideration.
The Editorial Office does not use a similarity percentage as the sole criterion for decision-making. The final decision is based on the nature, extent, and context of the identified overlap, the presence of proper citations, quotation practices, and authors’ explanations. In cases of substantial improper borrowing, the manuscript may be rejected without further editorial consideration.
Plagiarism After Publication
If signs of plagiarism, duplicate publication, or other misconduct are identified after publication, the Editorial Office conducts an investigation in accordance with the principles of publication ethics and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
If misconduct is confirmed, the journal may publish a correction, expression of concern, retraction, or other editorial notice depending on the nature and severity of the violation.
Where appropriate, the Editorial Office may notify the author’s institution, funding body, or other relevant parties.
Self-plagiarism and Duplicate Publication
Self-plagiarism, redundant publication, or reuse of substantial parts of an author’s own previously published materials without proper citation is unacceptable.
Authors must clearly cite their own previous publications when using previously published ideas, data, text fragments, tables, figures, or results. Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal is not permitted.
Recommendations for Authors to Avoid Plagiarism
Authors should:
- properly cite all sources used;
- use quotation marks for verbatim quotations and provide the source;
- paraphrase information in their own words without distorting the meaning of the original source;
- avoid excessive use of direct quotations;
- indicate the sources of tables, figures, photographs, diagrams, data, and other materials used from previous publications;
- obtain necessary permissions for the use of third-party materials where such permission is required by the applicable license or copyright terms;
- not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time;
- properly cite their own previous publications when they are related to the submitted manuscript.
Authors’ Responsibility
Authors are responsible for the originality of the submitted manuscript, accuracy of data, proper citation, correct attribution of sources, compliance with copyright requirements, and adherence to academic integrity standards.
Submission of a manuscript to TERRA ORTHOPAEDICA means that the authors confirm the originality of the work and the absence of plagiarism, duplicate publication, and simultaneous submission to another journal.