REGULATIONS ON SIMILARITY CHECKING
I. GENERAL PROVISIONS
- Originality: Manuscripts submitted to the Journal must be original works produced by authors; they must not involve unauthorized copying and must not misrepresent the scholarly contribution.
- No simultaneous submission: Authors must not submit the same manuscript (or a manuscript that substantially overlaps in core content) simultaneously to two or more journals.
- Respect for authors’ rights under Vietnamese law: Authors hold moral rights (e.g., the right to be named/credited, etc.) and economic rights in the work; any act infringing these rights may constitute copyright infringement under the Law on Intellectual Property.
- Mandatory text similarity screening procedure: The Journal conducts text similarity screening using a text similarity detection tool. The similarity/overlap report is used to support the assessment of originality (and does not replace scholarly evaluation).
- Author responsibilities for providing information and clarification: Authors must cooperate in providing information/explanations upon request (related manuscripts, previously published articles, raw data, permissions for use of figures/tables, etc.)
II.PRINCIPLES
Text similarity screening is a technical step intended to identify plagiarism risks; a similarity percentage does not automatically indicate plagiarism.
The Journal does not accept plagiarism in any form, including cases where the similarity percentage is low but there are indications of misappropriation of ideas/data/images or concealment of sources.
- Scope of plagiarism assessment
The Journal assesses plagiarism in: (1) wording; (2) ideas/analytical framework; (3) data, tables, images, maps; (4) self-plagiarism/duplicate publication; (5) simultaneous submission.
- Convention for calculating the similarity index
When calculating the similarity percentage, the Journal typically excludes: the reference list; clearly marked direct quotations with sources; standard phrases/terminology (subject to technical configuration and editorial decision).
- Regarding data/tables/images
Similarity screening tools support the detection of textual overlap; plagiarism involving images/tables/data may be identified more fully through combined manual comparison.
III. SCREENING THRESHOLDS
The percentage is calculated on the main content of the manuscript (after exclusions under the section “Convention for calculating the similarity percentage”). The Screening Thresholds Table below is a “screening/alert threshold” used to decide the next step; it must not be understood as “permission to plagiarize”, specifically:
| No. | Field group | Accept (proceed to peer review) |
Revision/explanation required | Desk rejection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Sciences and Engineering | ≤ 20% | 20%-30% | > 30% |
| 2 | Social Sciences and Humanities | ≤ 25% | 25%-35% | > 35% |
| 3 | Educational Sciences | ≤ 25% | 25%-35% | > 35% |
| 4 | Economics, Management, Law | ≤ 22% | 22%-32% | > 32% |
Notes:
- If verbatim copying/misappropriation of ideas, data, images, or concealment of sources is detected, the Journal may reject the manuscript even when the similarity percentage is low.
- Where overlap is concentrated in a single source, the Journal assesses the plagiarism risk as higher than when overlap is dispersed.
- For manuscripts expanded from conference proceedings, reports, master’s theses/doctoral dissertations, or preprints: the originating source must be cited, full disclosure must be made, and new contributions must be clearly stated. The degree of overlap with authors’ own prior publication(s) will be reviewed and considered by the Journal when it exceeds approximately 30–40% (depending on the specific field)
IV. PLAGIARISM AND RELATED VIOLATIONS
| No. | Conduct | Description | Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verbatim plagiarism | Copying sentences/large passages without quotation marks/without citation | Reject; may request an explanation and impose submission restrictions |
| 2 | Paraphrasing/translation plagiarism | Rephrasing or translating without source attribution | Require revision and addition of citations; if systematic, reject |
| 3 | Data/table/image plagiarism | Using another person’s data/tables/figures without permission/without attribution | Require evidence of permission; if not provided, reject; after publication, the article may be retracted |
| 4 | Self-plagiarism/duplicate publication | Substantial reuse of previously published content without disclosure | Require disclosure, citation, and clarification of new contributions; if unsatisfactory, reject |
| 5 | Simultaneous submission | Submitting the same manuscript to multiple venues, or while under review elsewhere | Immediate rejection; impose submission restriction |
| 6 | Citation manipulation | Irrelevant citations / “padding” intended to conceal copying | Require correction; if intentional and repeated: Reject |
V. SCREENING AND HANDLING PROCEDURE
- 1. Step 1: Conduct text similarity screening immediately upon receipt of the manuscript.
- 2. Step 2: The editor checks the overlapping passages (especially: abstract, background/problem statement, results, discussion/conclusion).
- 3. Step 3: Handle according to the levels in the Screening Thresholds Table: (1) proceed to peer review; or (2) return for revision/explanation; or (3) desk rejection or further investigation..
- 4. Step 4: A re-check may be conducted before publication; after publication, if violations are found, the Journal will handle the case in accordance with the degree of violation (correction/expression of concern/retraction) in line with publication ethics practice.
- 1. The manuscript is an original work; all sources used have been properly cited; there is no plagiarism/self-plagiarism.
- 2. Authors have lawful rights to use the data, tables, and images and have provided appropriate source attribution/credit.
- 3. Authors have disclosed related publications and will not submit the manuscript simultaneously to other venues during the Journal’s consideration period./.