Biotechnologia Acta

Plagiarism policy

The journal Biotechnologia Acta are committed to publishing only original material, i.e., material that has neither been published elsewhere, nor is under review elsewhere.

Plagiarism before publication

The journal Biotechnologia Acta uses software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts: Detector Plagiarist, Antiplagiat.  Manuscripts in which plagiarism or textual borrowings are found without reference to the original source are rejected by the editorial board for publication in the journal.

Policy of checking for plagiarism

The journal Biotechnologia Acta will judge any case of plagiarism on its own merits. If plagiarism is detected, either by the editors, peer reviewers or editorial staff at any stage before publication of a manuscript - before or after acceptance, during editing or at page proof stage, we will alert the author(s), asking her or him to either rewrite the text or quote the text exactly and to cite the original source. If the plagiarism is extensive - that is, if at least 25% of the original submission is plagiarized - the article may be rejected and the author's institution/employer notified.

The manuscripts in which plagiarism is detected are handled based on the extent of plagiarism present in the manuscript: if < 25% plagiarism – the manuscript is immediately sent back to the  authors for content revision, and if > 25% plagiarism – the manuscript is rejected without editorial review. The authors are advised to revise the plagiarized parts of the manuscript and resubmit it as a fresh manuscript.

The percentage of plagiarism is calculated by software and assessed manually as well.

Plagiarism after publication

If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will conduct an investigation. If plagiarism is found, the journal editorial office will contact the author's institute and funding agencies. The paper containing the plagiarism will be marked on each page of the PDF. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted.

Recommendations for avoiding plagiarism

• Use quotation marks around words taken verbatim from a source
• Change no part of quotation within the context of the sentence
• Use single marks for a quotation within a quotation
• Use a space and three periods for a part of the quotation omitted.
• Use brackets around added words
• Limit the use of direct quotes.

Attempt to paraphrase the information, or summarize the information derived from a variety of sources using own words.

The authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permission for reproducing illustrations, tables, figures taken from other authors and/or source. Permission must be placed at the foot of each figure.

Self-Plagiarism

Some authors have written several chapters for several different books that are changed only slightly. Each manuscript is copyrighted when published. Because the author no longer owns the rights to these words, one should not plagiarize them. Most editors and reviewers would argue that self-plagiarism is unethical. Thus, an author cannot copy one’s own material for a new manuscript without permission of the copyright holder. Alternatives include using quotes around short phrases of own work and citing appropriate references.