Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism Policy

Al-Qurtas Journal is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and strongly condemns all forms of scientific plagiarism, whether partial or complete, intentional or unintentional. Plagiarism is defined as the use of others’ work, ideas, or texts without explicit acknowledgment of the source.

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal are subject to initial screening using plagiarism detection software. If the similarity index exceeds the acceptable threshold (usually less than 25%) in the humanities, the manuscript is either rejected directly or returned to the author for rewriting.

Article Retraction Policy

In the event that plagiarism is discovered after publication, the Journal takes corrective actions, which may include:

  • Issuing a correction notice or retraction of the article, made available to all readers.

  • Notifying the author’s academic institution.

  • Banning the author from future submissions to the Journal.

An article may be retracted for the following reasons:

  • Detection of unethical research practices, compromised peer review (e.g., pre-arranged agreements without Editorial Board awareness), use of paper mills, manipulation of citations, or undisclosed conflicts of interest that may affect the interpretation of the work or reviewers’ recommendations.

  • Clear evidence of serious errors, misconduct in images, data, or analytical methods, or any form of misrepresentation (such as fraud, identity theft, ghost authorship, or full/undisclosed use of artificial intelligence) that compromises the reliability of the results.

  • Duplicate publication of results elsewhere without proper attribution, disclosure, authorization, or justification, or reuse of data from other studies without permission.

  • Violation of copyright or publication rights, or other serious legal issues such as defamation or breach of privacy.

  • Use of research data or references that have been previously retracted.

Retraction requests may be initiated by another author, an institution, readers, or editors. Regardless of the source of the request, the final decision on retraction is made by the Journal’s Editorial Board. Published articles may be retracted (or expressions of concern issued) even without the consent of the author(s).

For related guidance, see COPE Council. COPE Guidelines: Expressions of concern — English.
https://doi.org/10.24318/mw2J3661

Types of Retraction

Retraction with Replacement:
The article is not permanently removed but is replaced with a corrected version. This applies when the study design and research foundation are sound, but issues are identified in the conclusions after publication, and these issues are not related to breaches of publication ethics.

In such cases, copies of the original article are published with highlighted corrections as appendices to the retracted and replaced article. When the flaws are not major, the published article is not fully retracted; instead, a corrected version is published by agreement between the editor and the author. This ensures scientific transparency and maintains credibility in the Journal’s literature. The corrected version is clearly linked to the original with clear distinction between both versions.

Retraction with Removal:
In this case, the content is completely removed from the Journal and its archives, and the full retraction policy is applied.

The purpose of retraction is to correct the scholarly record and ensure its integrity, not to punish authors.

Authorship Disputes After Publication:

Articles are not retracted solely due to authorship disputes after publication, provided there is no reason to question the validity of the results, data reliability, or the accountability of the listed authors.

Authors must provide documentation substantiating the dispute. After editorial review, the involved parties are informed that a correction to the authorship list will be issued if justified.

Disclaimer

The author(s) of each published article bear full responsibility for its content. Al-Qurtas Journal, its editors, publisher, and any party involved in the creation, production, or distribution assume no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of the information published. They shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from the use of the Journal.

This policy is based on COPE guidelines, and the Journal is committed to handling all cases transparently and fairly.

COPE Council (2019). Retraction Guidelines. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.1.4