Screening For Plagiarism
1. Policy Statement
Cetta: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan is committed to maintaining academic integrity, scholarly originality, and ethical publishing practices. All submitted manuscripts must represent the authors' original scholarly work and comply with established standards of responsible research and academic writing.
Authors must not use the words, ideas, data, figures, illustrations, interpretations, or other intellectual contributions of others without appropriate acknowledgment. All sources must be properly cited at the point where they are used. Direct quotations must be clearly identified, accurately attributed, and used in accordance with applicable copyright and licensing requirements.
The journal strictly prohibits plagiarism, including unattributed copying, inappropriate paraphrasing, misappropriation of ideas, and substantial reuse of previously published material without proper disclosure or acknowledgment.
2. Plagiarism Screening Using Turnitin
Cetta: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan uses Turnitin to screen submitted manuscripts for textual similarities with published academic literature, online sources, and other documents available in its databases.
All manuscripts undergo an initial similarity screening conducted by the editorial team before being considered for peer review.
The journal establishes a maximum initial screening threshold of 20% similarity, as indicated by the Turnitin Similarity Report.
The 20% threshold is an initial screening benchmark and does not constitute an automatic determination of plagiarism. A similarity score exceeding 20% does not necessarily indicate plagiarism, while a score of 20% or below does not automatically establish originality or guarantee acceptance for peer review.
The similarity percentage must not be interpreted as a plagiarism percentage or as a direct measurement of the manuscript's scholarly originality.
The editorial team retains full responsibility for interpreting similarity reports and determining whether the identified similarities raise concerns regarding academic integrity.
3. Editorial Assessment of Similarity Reports
The editorial team conducts a contextual and substantive evaluation of Turnitin Similarity Reports rather than relying exclusively on numerical similarity scores.
The assessment considers the following aspects:
a. Context of Textual Similarity: Whether the matched text consists of commonly used academic expressions, technical terminology, methodological descriptions, properly acknowledged quotations, or potentially inappropriate reproduction of another work.
b. Citations and Attribution: Whether the manuscript properly acknowledges the original sources of borrowed ideas, arguments, interpretations, data, and textual materials.
c. References and Bibliography: Whether similarities originate from reference lists, bibliographic information, or properly cited academic sources, which should not automatically be treated as plagiarism.
d. Substantive Similarity: Whether the manuscript reproduces substantial intellectual content, research findings, theoretical arguments, interpretations, or original ideas from other works without appropriate attribution.
e. Proper Quotation and Paraphrasing: Whether direct quotations are appropriately identified and cited, and whether paraphrased material demonstrates genuine reformulation while accurately acknowledging the original source.
f. Previously Published Work: Whether the manuscript contains substantial overlap with the authors' previously published research without appropriate citation, disclosure, or sufficient new scholarly contribution.
In evaluating manuscripts involving religious texts, sacred literature, traditional narratives, historical documents, or cultural materials, editors also consider the disciplinary context and the legitimate use of primary sources, established terminology, and authoritative textual references.
Where appropriate, editors may apply relevant Turnitin report settings or exclusions for bibliographic entries and properly identified quotations. Such adjustments must not be used to conceal substantive unattributed similarities.
4. Editorial Actions Based on Screening Results
The editorial team determines appropriate actions based on the similarity report, the nature of identified overlaps, and the manuscript's compliance with academic integrity standards.
a. Manuscripts With Similarity Scores of 20% or Below
Manuscripts with similarity scores of 20% or below may proceed to further editorial evaluation, provided that the identified similarities do not indicate plagiarism or other violations of publication ethics.
A similarity score within this threshold does not automatically qualify a manuscript for peer review or publication.
b. Manuscripts With Similarity Scores Above 20%
Manuscripts exceeding the 20% initial screening threshold are subject to further editorial examination.
Depending on the nature and significance of the identified similarities, the editorial team may request clarification, require appropriate revision and correction of citations, request resubmission for additional screening, or reject the manuscript when substantial plagiarism or other serious ethical violations are established.
Exceeding the 20% similarity threshold does not automatically result in a finding of plagiarism or mandatory rejection.
c. Manuscripts With Confirmed Plagiarism
Manuscripts found to contain plagiarism following editorial assessment may be rejected or subjected to other appropriate editorial measures in accordance with the journal's Publication Ethics, Allegations of Research Misconduct, and Retraction policies.
Confirmed ethical violations are evaluated according to their nature, severity, supporting evidence, and applicable editorial procedures.
5. Author Responsibilities and Editorial Fairness
Authors are responsible for ensuring the originality of their manuscripts, the accuracy of citations, and the appropriate acknowledgment of all sources.
When potential plagiarism or inappropriate textual overlap is identified, the editorial team may request explanations, supporting documentation, or manuscript revisions before reaching a final decision.
All suspected violations are assessed objectively, confidentially, and fairly, without automatically presuming misconduct based solely on a Turnitin similarity percentage.
Cetta: Jurnal Ilmu Pendidikan maintains that scholarly originality cannot be determined exclusively through similarity detection software. Final editorial judgments must be based on contextual evaluation, academic substance, appropriate attribution, and established standards of research and publication ethics.
Through this policy, the journal seeks to ensure transparent plagiarism screening, fair editorial assessment, and responsible scholarly publishing in Religious and Cultural Studies.
