Note

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Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the use of someone’s intellectual or creative work without proper attribution. Plagiarism can take many forms, with the most common types being the direct copying of text or images, the paraphrasing of text, the modification of imagery, and the use of novel ideas, all without attributing the original source. Plagiarism includes the case of “self-plagiarism”, where one’s own previous work was used without attributing the original source. Plagiarism also includes the presentation of results from a numerical code when the code is not attributed. Plagiarism can sometimes be inadvertent, such as when relying on material generated by artificial intelligence models that were trained on other people’s work.

The journal considers all cases of plagiarism to be a serious ethical breach, regardless of the quantity and significance of the material that was plagiarized. If plagiarism is detected in a submitted manuscript, the peer review process will be halted and will continue only when the plagiarized material is removed. When plagiarism is detected in an article after it is published, the corresponding author of the work will be asked to either correct or retract the article. When the plagiarism is limited, it may be possible to modify the originally published work and to publish a correction that describes the changes that were made to the article. When the plagiarism is extensive, or when it is not feasible to correct the article without making extensive typesetting changes, the article will instead be retracted. When it is not possible to contact the corresponding author of an article, or if the corresponding author is known to be deceased, the journal may opt to instead publish an editorial expression of concern.

The editorial board is solely responsible for judging whether plagiarism has occurred. The policies and procedures for correcting an article that contains plagiarism are described in the policies Errata, Corrections, and Retractions.