Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism refers to the act of copying and presenting existing results, data, or ideas as one’s own without proper citation, acknowledgment, or permission from the original source. This includes direct copying, paraphrasing without attribution, and self-plagiarism (reusing one’s own previously published work without appropriate citation). WACANA upholds strict ethical standards in academic publishing and does not tolerate plagiarism or any form of data manipulation.

Plagiarism Screening and Similarity Index

• All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial plagiarism screening using Turnitin to assess similarity levels.
• The acceptable similarity threshold for submission to WACANA is below 20%.
• Manuscripts with a similarity index exceeding 20% will be automatically rejected without proceeding to the peer-review stage. Authors will be advised to revise and resubmit their work only after ensuring proper citation and originality.

Zero Tolerance for Plagiarism and Data Fraud

• Direct plagiarism (copying verbatim without citation), mosaic plagiarism (rearranging phrases from other sources without credit), and self-plagiarism (reusing previous work without disclosure) are all strictly prohibited.
• WACANA also enforces data integrity policies, meaning any form of data fabrication, falsification, or image manipulation will result in immediate rejection or retraction of the article.
• If plagiarism is detected after publication, the article will be retracted, and necessary actions will be taken to uphold research integrity.

By submitting their work to WACANA, authors confirm that their manuscript is free from plagiarism, properly cited, and adheres to the highest ethical research standards.